The Rift Child
by Hobbit985
Summary: Sequel to 'Through Glass. How will Gwen and Owen cope with their six year old daughter when she's a rift child? Especially since a lot of people are after Rift Children...
1. Holly

"Owen!" Gwen Cooper wandered across the Hub to where her husband sat at his desk typing. "What the hell is this?"

She held up the cup that until two minutes ago her six year old daughter had been drinking from. Owen frowned at her for a moment as if she were going mad.

"It's Holly's drink cup," he said slowly wondering if the last alien they'd encountered had altered her brain a bit. "Why?"

"Why did you give her orange juice?" Gwen asked, setting the cup down on Owen's desk and riffling through the papers that were littered over it.

"Because Thursday is orange juice," Owen replied as Gwen lifted out the food and drink rota that had been hidden.

"No orange juice is Friday," Gwen held the rota in front of Owen. "Its summer fruits on Thursday! Do you know how long it's going to take me to get Holly to bed now?"

"It's her drink Gwen!" Owen folded his arms. "She's six years old; do you really think she's going to notice?"

As the words left his mouth they heard the loud cries of a child start up. Gwen closed her eyes for a moment, breathing carefully.

"Yes, Owen, I think she will," Gwen took the cup and left, heading towards her daughter who was supposed to be playing with building blocks.

The small girl with long wavy sandy brown hair and electric blue eyes was now crying, her knees drawn up to her chest, rocking backwards and forwards. She was already wearing her pyjamas, light blue in colour and covered in yellow ducks.

Jack Harkness poked his head out of his office door and gave Gwen a sympathetic look.

"Did you want me to put her to bed?" He asked. Gwen looked at him gratefully.

"Would you?" She said gratefully. "It's just I've been rushed off my feet all day and it doesn't look like her useless lump of a father is going to help."

"Yeah, sure," Jack nodded walking towards Holly.

"No, it's fine," Owen said getting up and shooting a glare at Gwen. "I'll do it."

Jack paused mid stride and shrugged heading back the way he'd come.

"Whatever," he said casually. "Your call."

Gwen watched Owen head towards his daughter and attempt to get her to stand up. It was times like this when she watched him that she got the feeling Owen didn't really know his own daughter. He hadn't had this much trouble bonding when she was a baby, but the older she got, the more distant Owen and Holly became.

In fact she was starting to worry about it. Not only was Owen starting to drift away from the whole family life thing, but Holly was becoming confused. Jack spent a lot more time with her and Gwen had the horrible feeling that it would only be a matter of time before Holly assumed Jack was her dad.

Owen looked hopelessly at his sobbing daughter as though he had no idea what to do with her.

"You might want to try picking her up," Gwen suggested gently. "And I suspect you'll have to read to her at least three times before she'll settle."

"Yes, thank you," Owen replied sarcastically. "I think I know how to look after my own daughter."

Gwen didn't say anything. Even if she didn't feel that Owen was wrong, she doubted anything she said would be taken the right way. Still, he had to try; otherwise he'd never get anywhere.

But as Owen bent down to pick Holly up, she pushed herself away. He sighed, determined not to look at Gwen and tried once more to pick up his daughter. Holly stood up and ran to hide behind a desk.

For a moment Gwen felt truly sorry for Owen. The look on his face when Holly ran away from him was heartbreaking. Gwen went and scooped Holly up heading towards Owen with her.

"No, its fine," he said shoving his hands in his pockets and stalking back to his desk. "She obviously wants you and Jack."

Even Ianto, who was making coffee in the kitchen couldn't miss the jealous tone in Owen's voice. Gwen reluctantly handed Holly over to Jack and then went to make sure Owen was ok.

"She's just tired," Gwen tried to explain. "She doesn't know who anyone is."

"She certainly knows who you and Jack are," Owen shot back. "Look, I said its fine. I don't care if my own daughter hates me, I mean why should I?"

"She doesn't hate you Owen," Gwen said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Holly just doesn't get to spend as much time with you."

"Oh so it's my fault now?" Owen asked standing up and shrugging Gwen's hand off. He took a pile of papers over to Tosh's desk and dumped them down.

"No I didn't mean that," Gwen said quietly, trying to keep calm.

"Look," he turned round to look at Gwen and she could see just how much it was hurting Owen. "Holly obviously doesn't like me, so is there any point thrusting my existence into her little world?"

"Owen, she is a rift child," Gwen burst out suddenly, losing her cool. "You can't expect her to embrace everything thrown her way! If you just gave her time, maybe talked to her occasionally, you might get through to her!"

"She knows that she wasn't planned you know," Owen shouted back. "She knows that she was an accident and she knows that one of us wanted her dead. She just assumes it must've been me."

Gwen stood still for a moment shocked. She sat down unable to say anything. Owen ran a hand through his hair.

"You were the one that wanted me to keep her," Gwen whispered. "If you want to blame someone blame yourself. If I'd had my way you wouldn't even have known about her."

Gwen stormed off to the back room then to check on Holly and Jack. Owen stood in silence for a few moments, then caught Ianto and Tosh staring at him. He glanced form one to the other.

"What?" He asked. They simply shrugged and returned to their tasks.

Jack came out then, walking over slowly, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He came to a stop in front of Owen.

"Holly is a great kid," Jack said gently. "You're missing out. If you just tried Owen, you could connect with her."

Owen looked at Jack blankly, the anger boiling up inside him. He could feel he was about to do something very stupid. Somehow though, punching Jack made him feel so much better.


	2. Feeling Unloved

"Ow, ow, ow," Jack complained as Gwen checked his nose.

"God you're pathetic," she giggled. "Owen hits like a girl. I'm surprised he even gave you a nose bleed."

"Hey!" Jack frowned at Gwen slightly annoyed. "He punches harder than Ianto."

Gwen just nodded trying to keep a straight face. Jack folded his arms looking straight at Gwen. 

"Are you implying that my partner is more effeminate than Owen?" Jack asked.

"No, you implied that," Gwen replied, wiping Jack's nose one last time. "Although Ianto is a lot more level headed. Owen tends to let his fists do the talking."

"Yeah, I gathered that," Jack said, standing up and checking his reflection in a mirror that was always lying about in the Hub. You couldn't really tell that anyone had punched him and he healed quickly.

"I wish he'd just try with Holly," Gwen sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"It's because they're so alike," Jack turned back to Gwen. "It still freaks Owen out that Holly is part of him."

"Yeah, I know," Gwen slipped her hands into her pockets. "I think he blames himself for Holly being a Rift Child, despite the gene being in my ancestry."

"Well Owen is a bit…" Jack searched for the right word.

"Idiotic? Hot headed? A total git?" Gwen offered making Jack smile.

"I was going to say passionate, but your descriptions probably fit better," He admitted.

Gwen sighed watching Owen as he sat next to Holly, stroking her hair as the girl fell asleep. She knew that deep down, Owen really did want to know his daughter, be part of her world, even if he didn't show it sometimes.

"Maybe he should take her out somewhere?" Tosh suggested standing next to Gwen. "Where does she like to go?" 

"She likes the park, but…" Gwen paused uncomfortably. "He's never taken her alone. He's never had to deal with one of her tantrums. It's my fault really…"

"Don't start blaming yourself," Tosh said gently. "How can it be your fault?"

"Because I never let him try," Gwen slipped her hands into her jacket pockets. "I always look after Holly… I've never given him the chance to bond."

Tosh didn't say anything. She didn't know how to respond to what Gwen had said. When she thought about it, it was true. Gwen didn't do it on purpose but she did take care of Holly a lot more than Owen did.

Tosh wandered away towards Jack and Ianto who were stood in the middle of the Hub, watching Gwen, and talking in low voices.

"I think maybe it would be better if we didn't spend so much time with Holly," Tosh said quietly. "Owen needs to bond."

Jack nodded.

"You mean you think I should take a step back?" He said. He wasn't stupid; the punch had been thrown at him for spending too much time with Holly.

"Well… yeah," Tosh said apologetically. "Owen handles things differently, I should know, but he won't see a helping hand, he'll see someone who's trying to take his daughter away from him."

"Yeah, I know," Jack said. "And I was only trying to help because…"

Tosh smiled sympathetically, patting Jack on the back.

"I'm gonna pack up," she said, heading towards her desk.

"Owen'll come round," Ianto watched Gwen walk into the backroom and sit next to Owen.

"Eventually," Jack agreed. He sighed walking towards his office. Ianto followed, hands in his trouser pockets.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?" He asked. Jack looked up, blue eyes meeting Ianto's.

"Yeah, thanks," he said smiling slightly.

Ianto wandered off to the kitchen making enough coffee for Jack, Owen, Gwen and himself.

Gwen slipped her hand into Owen's, squeezing it slightly. He didn't look at her, but he rubbed her hand slightly with his thumb.

"Is Jack ok?" He asked, still watching Holly.

"Yeah, no long term damage," Gwen replied.

"I'm not fired then?" Owen joked.

"No," Gwen smiled slightly. "You're safe."

"I didn't mean to hit him," Owen glanced at Gwen. "I just…"

"Let your fists do the talking?" She said. "Yeah, Jack thought that too."

"I just…" Owen said again then paused. "I just want to be part of her world."

"I know," Gwen looked at Owen sadly. "And you can be."

"No, I can't," Owen shook his head. "She's too old. Se won't be able to accept me now."

"What are you on about?" Gwen frowned. "You've always been there; you used to be really close. She just needs to spend more time with you."

Owen looked at Gwen. She didn't know what it felt like to be rejected by her daughter. The hopeless feeling that Holly would never love him was something Gwen could never even imagine.

"I hope so," he said quietly.


	3. Kidnap

As the days passed, Owen seemed to try less and less to bond with his daughter and by the weekend Gwen found Holly was growing more and more attached to the rest of the team.

On more than one occasion Gwen would come back into the Hub and discover Tosh using flashcards and teaching Holly to recognise different aliens. Another time Gwen began to panic when she couldn't locate her small daughter. It was only when Ianto returned holding a tray of coffee that Holly, who was following with a cup for her mum, reappeared.

The most recent incident was only that morning. Gwen, Owen and Tosh had been re-archiving some of the older files in the Hub and didn't come up from the basement for several hours. When they did, they could hear squeals of delight and laughter. The three of them paused at the door from the basement and watched as Jack and Ianto dodged between desks, laughing as Holly tried to catch them.

"I'm coming to get you!" Jack growled in a deep voice, running after the small girl who was grinning from ear to ear.

Gwen found the scene quite amusing and would be more than willing to let Jack and Ianto continue playing happy families, but she could feel the heat radiating off Owen. She glanced at him sideways and saw the jealous look on his face. Reaching out, Gwen slipped her fingers through Owen's, squeezing slightly.

"Why don't you join in?" Gwen suggested quietly in Owen's ear as Tosh wandered carefully over to her work station.

"No, I don't want to spoil Jack and Ianto's fun," Owen sighed, sadly.

"Owen," Gwen pulled him closer as he tried to walk away. "Do you want to take her to the park later?

Owen looked like he was about to turn down the offer so Gwen held up a hand and thought quickly.

"Look, Jack says there's a load of admin that needs getting through, so if you take Holly and keep her out of our hair, we'll do whatever admin if thrown your way," She looked at him pleadingly. "Go on!"

"Alright," Owen said trying to sound reluctant but Gwen could hear the pleased note in his voice.

Jack wandered over then, holding the squirming six year old in his arms, tickling her. Holly giggled and tried to escape, but Jack held her tight.

"I think she'd like to stretch her legs," Jack said tentatively, not wanting to feel the wrath of Owen's fists again.

"I'll take her," Owen said heading out with his daughter, grabbing the bag of necessities on the way.

Jack smiled at Gwen knowingly as the pair watched Owen leave. Ianto was already back to his immaculately neat, coffee making self.

"What did you say to him?" Jack asked curiously.

"Told him that you'd got a load of admin work lined up," Gwen grinned at her own white lie. "I think the thought of paperwork might've persuaded him just as much as the chance to spend time with his daughter."

"I get the feeling I should resent that," Jack said, walking slowly across the Hub. Gwen followed considering.

"Yeah, you probably should," Gwen agreed. "But you should also be thankful that not only have I reunited my family, but I've got Owen out of your hair for the afternoon. Two birds, one stone."

Jack folded his arms and raised his eyebrows at Gwen as she made a 'oh yeah, go me' face.

"Do you think he suspected anything?" Jack asked.

"Nope," Gwen shook her head. "Has Tosh got all the food?"

"Yup," Jack nodded. "How long do you reckon we've got?"

"Knowing Owen," Gwen pondered for a moment. "About two hours."

Owen felt slightly happier as he wandered towards the park, the light blue shoulder bag slung over his left shoulder, his daughter's hand slipped into his right. It seemed that Holly did remember who he was, and was perfectly content at showing him love, away from the others at the Hub.

As they neared the park they passed several white vans, which, for some unknown reason seemed to freak Holly out and Owen ended up carrying her the rest of the way. Once inside the park gate however Holly jumped down and headed for the duck pond, Owen following to make sure she didn't fall in.

He searched through the bag and pulled out a few slices of bread, holding them out so Holly could take them and feed the ducks. Owen smiled slightly as he watched his daughter throwing bits of bread to the mallards swimming towards them. Holly was wearing a bright red coat and wellies and for once Owen felt that Holly's condition was a gift and not a curse. As much as he found it difficult to deal with the distant world of his child, he wouldn't have Holly any other way.

"Duckies!" Holly giggled.

"Yeah!" Owen grinned back. Holly was obviously in the mood to recognise that someone was with her.

"Jack says ducks aren't from Earth," Holly continued, never taking her eyes off the birds, pecking at the soggy bread on the surface of the water.

Owen frowned slightly and knelt beside Holly, her sandy brown hair tied back in bunches, flying out behind her as the wind blew past.

"Not ducks, ducks come from Earth," Owen said quietly, wondering just how much Holly understood. "Pigeons are from space."

"Yeah, that's what I mean," Holly nodded. "Jack says they come from the moon of a planet twelve thousand light years to the left of Pluto."

Owen found it startling just how intelligent his daughter was. She never talked very much usually and when she did, it was because she was drawing something, or she wanted a drink.

"Jack comes from somewhere else too," Holly turned now to look at Owen and he stared straight back into her electric blue eyes. Her accent had always been odd; welsh, but not as strong as Gwen's, it was softer, like Ianto's, but now it seemed to be layered with an emotion Owen couldn't quite place. "He's covered in this… energy…"

Holly stopped and turned back to the duck pond, chucking the last of the bread into the water.

"What do you mean energy?" Owen asked gently, reaching out to lay a hand on Holly's shoulder.

"It's like a golden glow," Holly replied brushing the bread crumbs off her hands. "I don't know what it is."

"But only Jack's covered in it?" Owen frowned. He and the rest of the team had always suspected that Jack wasn't from Earth. Or at least not in the 21st century.

"Because only Jack's travelled in time," Holly shrugged.

Back at the Hub Tosh, Jack, Ianto and Gwen were sticking up paper chains and setting up a table full of party food. They weren't celebrating anything in particular, they just thought it would be good for team morale, Owen's especially, if they had a bit of a party.

Jack was in his element when it came to decorating. He covered everything and anything in the paper chains and no one else dared try and help. Ianto in particular kept out of Jack's way. He knew what the American was like with decorations and Ianto had been on the receiving end of Jack's 'mad five minutes' more than once.

"Ianto!" Jack called noticing the Welshman hiding in the kitchenette making coffee. "I'll get you eventually, it's no use hiding!"

Ianto poked his head out of the door smiling ruefully.

"I know, sir," he replied disappearing for a second before walking out holding a tray of mugs.

Tosh and Gwen took their cups from Ianto smiling their thanks as they opened packets of cocktail sausages and scotch eggs. Ianto then wandered towards Jack holding out the last cup. Jack's fingers brushed against Ianto's as he took the coffee from him.

Gwen and Tosh glanced at each other smiling knowingly, but they quickly hid the grins and Ianto walked past to put the tray back. Jack was the only one Ianto would willingly touch and it didn't take three guesses as to why.

Holly had stopped talking, but for once, Owen didn't mind. The information that she'd revealed was enough to keep him thinking for several minutes. Owen sat on the bank of the pond as he pondered what Holly had said. Holly herself has become bored and picked up a stick, drawing things in the mud.

Owen wasn't sure whether Holly's intelligence and apparent psychic powers or Jack's unexplained time placement puzzled him more. Eventually, his eyes focused on the markings in the mud and he frowned again.

Holly had been working out what looked like impossible equations. Owen decided that perhaps he ought to tell Gwen about this, and spend more time with Holly like she'd suggested.

"What's that, Holly?" Owen asked lightly.

"It's called the Skasas Paradigm," Holly drew another symbol, something Owen didn't recognise. Not that he recognised any of the other symbols either.

Owen's mind raced. He'd heard of the Skasas Paradigm. A few years back, there had been reports of teachers leaving a secondary school under suspicious circumstances. Torchwood had started taking any and all files they could get their hands on. Before they could move in to investigate though, the school had exploded and everything had returned to normal.

Jack had acted quite weird when he'd found out that a man called John Smith had been a supply for a few days whilst things got very interesting. The children had been interviewed and though most of them could not remember anything out of the ordinary, one, a boy called Kenny, had mentioned bat like creatures, which John Smith had told him were called Krillitanes and they had been brain washing the children to work out the Skasas Paradigm.

Owen defiantly needed to talk to the others about this. According to Jack, the Skasas Paradigm, also known as the 'God Maker', was the key to the way the universe worked. Anyone who could work out the Skasas Paradigm could control the building blocks of time, space and universal matter. But only a child, someone with imagination would be able to work it out. Once cracked though the code would be universally damaging if it fell into the wrong hands.

Something was amiss. Owen frowned as he tried to think what was different about his surroundings. Then he heard it. A blood curdling scream of a small girl who was being snatched away.

Owen stood up, spinning round looking for his daughter. There was nothing though. The noise had stopped and there was no sign of Holly anywhere. Grabbing the shoulder bag he ran towards the park gate, looking all round for any clue as to where Holly had gone.

Owen stopped, panting. He couldn't see anything. The only other thing that was different was the absence of the white vans Owen and Holly had passed earlier. Suddenly Holly's fright at the sight of them made sense.

Gwen and Tosh had finished setting up the food and were now attempting to untangle Ianto. Once more Jack had attacked his partner with decorations and Ianto looked like a present.

Jack had disappeared off to cover the rest of the Hub the minute he'd caught Ianto. Gwen and Tosh made small 'squeeing' noises as Ianto came looking for help. If Owen had been present he might've made a comment about the 'squeeing' only making Ianto feel worse.

Still, Ianto seemed grateful that they'd managed to free him. Tosh giggled as she watched Ianto scarper and hide in the kitchenette. She picked up a sausage roll and bit into it.

"Want one?" Tosh asked offering the plate to Gwen.

Gwen shook her head, clutching her stomach and looking slightly green.

"Nah, I feel a bit sick actually," she replied.

"You alright?" Tosh frowned.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "Just a bit queasy. I think its cause of worrying about Owen. I'll be fine."

As soon as Tosh was out of the way however Gwen headed for the bathroom. She'd stretched the truth a bit. She knew that this sickness had nothing to do with Owen because she'd felt like this for several days now. In fact, as she stood over the toilet, flushing away her sick, she suspected that it wasn't a bug going round.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the squashed packet she'd been carrying round for days. She didn't know what was stopping her, but she'd been reluctant to take the test and find out the truth.

Five minutes later, Gwen, who was feeling much better, returned back to the Hub's main area. Tosh looked up frowning slightly.

"Where did you disappear to?" She asked.

"No where," Gwen said a mysterious smile playing across her lips.

Tosh had joined Torchwood with Owen when they'd been faced by an alien invasion and managed to deal with it, much quicker than the actual Torchwood. Thus the computer genius and Doctor had been snatched up straight away. Yes, there had been some Retcon involved, but they had ultimately joined the alien fighting force. And, being a genius, it didn't take Tosh more than a minute to figure out exactly what was wrong, or rather right with Gwen.

But before Tosh could open her mouth to question Gwen about it, Owen came bursting into the Hub. Gwen was too happy to notice the worried look on Owen's face.

"Owen!" She said grinning. "I've got something to-"

"Gwen, I'm sorry!" Owen cried before Gwen could complete her sentence. Gwen frowned slightly.

"Owen? What's wrong?" She asked, then she realised what, or rather who, was missing. "Where's Holly?"

Jack appeared from inside the conference area, standing at the top of the stairs, frowning down at the flustered looking Owen. Ianto poked his head out of the kitchenette looking confused. Tosh stood up moving her chair out of the way and walking towards Owen.

"Owen?" She said quietly.

"It's Holly," Owen began waving his arms. "Someone's taken her! I was in the park and she was… she was solving equations in the mud… and talking about Jack and… she was right in front of me… and then she was just gone!"


	4. Idiots

Gwen stood frozen, not quite sure if she'd heard Owen correctly or not. Jack, Ianto and Tosh glanced at each other as Owen continued to babble, running his hands through his already messed up hair.

"Owen, calm down," Tosh said gently, reaching out a hand and pulling his arms down by his sides. "Now tell us what happened."

Owen took several deep breaths but only had eyes for Gwen.

"There were these white vans," he began a bit slower. "And I didn't think anything of it and we were in the park feeding the ducks and… I swear my mind only wandered for a few seconds and she just disappeared… and then the white vans were gone…"

Gwen didn't say anything, just stared at him. Tosh pulled out her PDA and began bringing up the CCTV of the area surrounding the park. She wandered away towards her desk, intending to track the white vans.

"Right team," Jack rubbed his hands together. "Let's find Holly."

He and Ianto went off to prepare the SUV but Gwen and Owen just continued to stare at each other.

"Gwen, I'm sorry," Owen said finally. Gwen tore her eyes off Owen and shrugged.

"It's fine," she said, heading over to Tosh to see what she'd found. Gwen tried hard not to think about the fact that her daughter was missing. This was just another mission that Torchwood had to take on. It would only make things harder if she remembered that she was emotionally involved.

But Owen couldn't forget. He'd hardly felt like the worlds best Dad before, but now things just kept getting worse and worse. He wouldn't have blamed Gwen if she took Holly and left the moment they got her back.

Jack returned after a few minutes and Tosh stood up, transferring all the files from her computer to her PDA.

"Tosh, the white vans?" Jack asked as Ianto went to fetch some arms.

"Headed south towards Penarth," Tosh tapped quickly on her PDA. "Judging by the speed and the time that they left, they're about three miles away. If we hurry, take back routes and keep an eye on where the white vans are heading we should be able to head them off before they get to Penarth."

Jack nodded and Ianto returned chucking guns at the rest of the team which they caught and holstered. As Owen caught his own gun he vaguely remembered Gwen's first day. She'd tried to chuck things to them and had missed, releasing the sex pheromone on Cardiff. It didn't make Owen feel any better to know he wasn't the only one to have screwed up.

"Right before we go I want to talk to you all," Jack said quickly. Tosh looked up from her PDA, but the stylus in her hand was still moving over the screen. "We are not going to negotiate. Our main and only priority is to get Holly out unharmed. I don't care what you have to do, just get the child away. Got it?"

Tosh, Gwen and Ianto nodded. Jack frowned for a second.

"Where's Owen?" He glanced round just in time to see the Hub door close as someone slipped through. Glancing back quickly at Owen's desk Jack saw that his PDA was gone. "Oh that's just fantastic. Ianto, any chance you can stop him?"

Ianto strode over to Owen's desk and began calling up the security codes. Tosh and Gwen glanced at Jack.

"He's taken the SUV hasn't he?" Tosh said quietly.

"He's going after Holly alone," Gwen whispered to herself. Owen could be a right idiot when he wanted to.

Owen managed to slip out the Hub before Ianto could initiate a lockdown. He climbed inside the SUV and hooked his PDA up to the route finder. The annoying cool female voice crackled into life as he started up the engine and began to drive out of Cardiff bay.

"Calculating route," it told him in that tone of voice flight attendants use when they're just about to announce over the tanoy that your flight has been delayed by several hours. "Take the next right."

Owen turned right, the directions washing over him. He was on autopilot. His only thought was to get his daughter back and quick. He hated to think of her cowering in the back of one of those white vans alone; or worse, with someone.

He shuddered as all the possibilities of what they might do to Holly flooded through his mind. He shoved those thoughts away and concentrated hard on the road, on the lookout for the white vans constantly.

It took him a minute to realise what exactly was causing the vibration against his leg. His mind suddenly clicked into place and he pulled out his mobile.

"Hello?" He said, checking the road before he turned left.

"Owen, get your arse back to the Hub," Jack's calm voice told him.

Tosh was holding one of Gwen's hands tightly as though she feared Gwen might suddenly do a runner herself. She had watched as Ianto dialled Owen's mobile and put the phone on loudspeaker.

Jack had wasted no time in asserting who was in charge, but somehow Gwen knew that Owen's stubbornness would not allow him to follow orders.

"No," Owen's voice floated down the phone.

"Owen, it wasn't a question," Jack rolled his eyes. "Get back here now."

"Piss off Jack," Owen snapped.

"Owen-"

"No!" Gwen winced as Owens tone became ever angrier. "This is my daughter. I lost her, so I'm going to get her back. You're not her father."

"Owen," Jack tried to get a word in edge ways, but too late Owen had hung up.

Ianto flicked the phone off at their end and headed towards Jack's office.

"Right, grab your coats people, we're going after Owen," Jack said, then smiled slightly as he saw Ianto had pre-empted his actions and fetched Jack his greatcoat.


	5. Gunshots And Ghosts

Owen was getting more and more restless as the minutes passed. He jumped a red light here and there when there was no one around to see and more than once when there was. The PDA showed he was so close, a few streets away to where the vans appeared to have stopped.

He took a left and then a right and then another left. His knuckles were white; his hands gripping the wheel so tightly he was surprised that he hadn't pulled it off the dash board.

Jack, Tosh and Gwen were squashed into Gwen's car, speeding down the motorway after Owen. Jack was driving because he didn't want Gwen behind the wheel in her state. He'd expected her to burst into tears but so far all she'd been able to do was sit and stare, occasionally muttering something like 'she should be having her juice now' or 'she needs to take her medication'.

Jack was trying to ignore the mutters coming from Gwen and tune into the mumbling coming from Tosh.

"Next right," she said. "Take junction three and head straight until I tell you."

"Tosh, the road bends round," Jack pointed out knowing how unhelpful it was.

"Well follow the road round and take the next right then," Tosh replied quickly, tapping her stylus over the spare PDA from the Hub.

"Gwen, we're catching up ok?" Jack said glancing in the rear view mirror at the scared looking woman.

Gwen looked up and for a fleeting moment she caught Jack's eye. Jack hated that look. It was the same look she'd given him when Suzie killed herself, the same look she'd given him when Ianto had first wandered back into the Hub after they'd murdered Lisa, the same look she'd given him after the cannibals freaked her out. It was that look that reminded Jack the team were only human and sometimes it was impossible not to be emotionally involved.

Jack felt his own heart ache then. For once he wished he'd bought Ianto with them and left someone in else in charge of the Hub. Ok, so Ianto was happy to stay behind and clean up and make the coffee, but Jack wanted to make the Welshmen feel part of the team rather than just some tea-boy.

Jack shook his head trying to keep his eyes on the road. This was no time to drag his own personal life into Torchwood. Gwen and Owen's combined was bad enough, he didn't need the extra weight. He could make it up to Ianto another time.

"Jack!" Tosh almost shouted.

"What?" Jack asked not realising just how deep in his own thoughts he was.

"You missed the turning," Tosh said a little more calmly.

"Shit," Jack glanced in the rear view mirror again and performed a quick swerve, turning round without stopping and making Tosh whimper. Gwen didn't bat an eyelid; she had that misty eyed look of someone a thousand miles away. And Jack knew exactly where her mind was.

Owen turned slowly into the road where the white vans were parked. He didn't park near them. Instead he parked one end of the road and walked down to the other, PDA and mobile stuffed in his jacket pocket.

He glanced around to see if anyone was around or watching. No one that he could see. He wandered up to one of the vans and saw the door was slightly ajar. He pulled out his gun carefully and then opened the door fully, but the van was empty. A few blankets on the floor, but nothing else.

He tried the next one along. Again empty, but left unlocked. Owen was beginning to suspect Holly's kidnappers had known they had a follower. He checked the last van. His heart ached as he found Holly's coat discarded to one side. He picked it up and fingered it longingly, hugging it close.

Holding on to the red coat, he glanced around. The vans were parked in front of a warehouse, and the door to this was also slightly ajar.

"Real original," Owen grimaced to himself, heading to wards the warehouse, gun in one hand, his daughters coat in the other.

Jack was getting a little annoyed. A truck had overturned and they'd been stuck in non moving traffic for the last half an hour.

"Tosh, is there no way around this bloody thing?" He asked tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Jack, for the fourth and final time, no," Tosh sighed, her head in her hand. "And will you stop that tapping!"

Jack paused long enough to shoot her a dirty look then continued his tapping. Gwen glanced around. The whole road was blocked and it didn't look like they were going to move anytime soon.

She carefully undid her seatbelt and slipped towards the left hand door. Neither Tosh nor Jack was paying any attention to her and she quickly opened the door diving out and running across up the road.

"Gwen!" Jack cried as he saw her running off. "Shit. Tosh, take over."

Jack got out the car and quickly pelted after Gwen, leaving Tosh to close the doors and slip into the drivers seat, sighing.

Gwen knew the directions. Jack had made Tosh repeat them several times so he could put his foot down as soon as they were past the upturned truck or whatever was blocking the road.

She could hear pounding footsteps behind her and knew Jack was following. She'd guessed he would, but somehow the thought that she was mere meters away from her daughter gave her the energy to easily outstrip her boss.

But Gwen never made it all the way to the warehouse where her husband was currently locating their daughter. She didn't even make it to the end of the road the warehouse was on. In fact she stopped dead just after she turned the corner.

Jack almost ran into her as he hurtled round the corner as well. He stopped a couple of feet in front of her and panting walked back toward Gwen.

"Gwen?" He asked watching her worriedly. She was looking intently at something a few feet in front of her. "Are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost…"

Gwen didn't reply she simply raised a finger and pointed at thin air.

"Can't you see her?" She asked.

"See who?" Jack replied, the concern in his voice rising.

"Holly," Gwen replied not taking her eyes off the air in front of her.

Owen wandered slowly around the warehouse. There was no one around. Or at least no one he could see anyway. He heard something move to his left and turned, gun held up in front of him. He caught sight of a doorway leading into a separate part of the warehouse and he walked through the door.

His heart practically flew into his mouth as he caught sight of his six year old daughter lying battered and bruised, bound and gagged, but awake in the middle of the room. He stared open mouthed in horror at the thought that anyone could hurt a child at all let alone his own daughter.

"Finally found us then," a man stepped out from the shadows and Holly curled into a tighter ball, tears falling down her face.

Owen pointed his gun at the man and took a few steps forward.

"You bastard," he muttered.

"Language," the man raised an eyebrow, apparently amused. "Swearing in front of a child? Tut tut."

"Hand over my daughter," Owen growled.

The man took a step towards Owen. In the shafts of light streaming through the boarded up windows, Owen could see the man was tall, slim and had short white blonde hair.

"Do you really think it's that easy?" The man whispered almost inaudibly.

Jack obviously couldn't see what Gwen could and this was not a good thing. She looked so pale and scared.

"Gwen," he said again quietly, reaching out to take her hand.

He shivered; she was so cold it was like touching a ghost. That wasn't the reason he'd shivered though. Jack turned slowly to look at the blank spot again, only it wasn't blank.

A ghostly, transparent Holly, looking badly beaten was stood, taking shaky breaths and staring back at the pair of them.

"Help me, Mummy," Holly whimpered.

Jack gasped and tried to pull Gwen away but she wouldn't move. She just turned her head to look at Jack.

"You can see her too?" She asked. Jack nodded, still in shock.

"Gwen, we have to go," Jack said trying to pull her again.

"No," Gwen replied, shaking her head. "We have to go and help her."

"Gwen, that's not Holly," Jack said carefully.

"I know!" Gwen shook Jack off desperately. "It's a message."

As Jack let go of Gwen, Holly disappeared.

"We have to get to her," Gwen charged off down the road again and Jack sighed, storming after her.

Owen and Holly's captor stood squaring each other up, barely a foot apart, the only thing keeping them from getting any closer, was Owen's gun.

"Give me my daughter," Owen said through gritted teeth.

"No," the man shook his head. "You're a grown man. Take her."

Owen hesitated, wondering what trick was up the other mans sleeve. Holly's kidnapper however didn't move and Owen walked slowly over to his cowering daughter, wrapped her in her red coat and lifted her into his arms, all the while keeping his gun trained on the blonde haired man.

"Now the fun begins," the man smiled maliciously.

Gwen ran faster this time, but Jack was ready and managed to keep up with her. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her when they reached the SUV.

"You cannot just go running in there," he warned. Gwen looked at him like he was totally mad.

"Please," she begged. "I have to find my family."

Before Jack could answer, a gunshot reverberated from inside the warehouse, then another and another. Gwen paled, though Jack was not quite sure how it was possible for her to turn any whiter.

"No," It took Jack a minute to realise it was Gwen talking. "No, no, no, no, no, no."

Gwen collapsed into Jack's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Jack held Gwen close, trying not to break down himself. His attention was caught though by a figure emerging from the warehouse.

Owen headed towards them, looking like he'd fought of an army, clutching Holly who was wrapped up in her coat. Gwen looked up when she heard Jack gasp and she almost laughed when she saw Owen and Holly.

She pulled herself from Jack's grip and ran towards Owens outstretched arm, hugging him tightly and wrapping a protective arm round her injured daughter.


	6. Doting Father

Jack, Tosh, Ianto and Gwen were all sat in Jack's office, drinking extra strong coffee and discussing Owen and Holly's wellbeing. The Hub looked sad now. The decorations dropped and the food looked less inviting. Owen hadn't paid any attention to this too wrapped up in his own thoughts.

When they'd finally managed to persuade Owen to talk at all he hadn't told them anything that had happened in the warehouse. Jack had gone in to investigate, expecting to find something, but there was no one there. No sign of a struggle, no sign anyone had ever been in the warehouse. Which worried Jack more than if he'd found a dead body.

"I think he's in shock," Tosh said quietly, taking a sip of her drink. "The last time I saw him like this was the first time he couldn't save someone in surgery. It was a fifteen year old girl, and he'd promised the parents he'd save her. He blamed himself for months."

Jack nodded watching Gwen carefully. She hadn't spoken either since they'd arrived back at the Hub. She'd simply sat, staring into space, not touching the coffee Ianto had bought her.

"Where is Owen?" Ianto asked.

"Down in the Med bay treating Holly," Jack replied leaning back against his desk.

"Is he ok to be treating her?" Ianto frowned slightly, folding his arms.

"I think it'd be unwise to tell a distressed father that he can't look after his child," Jack glanced at Ianto who nodded understandingly.

Gwen looked up suddenly as though she'd heard something then and the other three turned to try and see what she was looking at.

Owen appeared, climbing up the stairs from the basement, Holly in his arms, looking slightly better than they had done when they'd first emerged from the warehouse.

Owen paused in the doorway of Jack's office not quite meeting the gaze of any of them.

"I'm taking Holly home," he announced.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Jack began, but the dirty glare shot his way was enough to tell him not to argue.

Gwen stood up and wandered over to Owen taking his free hand. Tosh, Jack and Ianto just watched the pair of them leave. There was no point stopping them when they were still in shock. The best thing for the three of them would be to get a good nights sleep.

"Did you manage to get Owen to explain what happened?" Ianto asked as soon as Owen and Gwen were out of earshot.

"No," Jack shook his head. "Whatever happened, I don't think Owen wants to relive it."

"Aren't you worried though?" Tosh frowned. "A parent trying to protect their child can do anything…"

Jack just shrugged.

"He'll tell us when he's ready," he replied. "I couldn't find anything in the warehouse so there's nothing we need to clean up."

Tosh tried to stifle a yawn then but Jack was having none of it.

"Go home Tosh," he said gently. "Get some sleep. Don't worry about coming in early tomorrow."

Tosh smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, Jack," she said, picking up her stuff and heading for the door.

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, finishing his cup of coffee before turning to Ianto.

"I'm going to bed," he smiled innocently. "Coming?"

Ianto shook his head rolling his eyes. Jack pouted.

"What?" He asked.

"Even after the hard day you've had, your mind is still on sex," Ianto chuckled.

"Ah, now that's where you're wrong," Jack held up his hands in defence. "I said bed; I didn't mention sex at all."

"You were thinking it," Ianto raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah," Jack grinned nodding. He held out his hand to his partner. "You got left behind today, so I thought I'd better make it up to you."

"And sex was the best thing you could come up with?" Ianto asked taking the offered hand.

"For now, until I can organise something better," Jack nodded.

Ianto allowed Jack to pull him towards the ladder leading down to what was now their shared room.

Holly had fallen asleep in Owen's arms by the time they reached their flat and he hadn't wanted to put her to bed so he had curled up on the sofa with her. Gwen watched the pair of them for a while from the bedroom doorway. Half of her wanted to go over and join them, but the other half was telling her that Owen needed time alone with Holly right now.

She suddenly remembered what she'd been planning on telling Owen just before they found out about Holly's disappearance. One hand rested subconsciously on her stomach and she backed quietly into the bedroom. She could tell Owen another time, right now he needed to concentrate on Holly and Gwen needed to get some rest.

Gwen found she couldn't sleep though. She heard Owen carry Holly through to her bedroom eventually, but she didn't hear him come back out. Somehow she just couldn't sleep without the warmth of another body next to hers.

Her mind began wandering and she found herself thinking about Rhys. She couldn't condone what she'd done to him, but she was so much happier with Owen now. Gwen had received a text from Rhys not long ago, just asking how life was going. She'd told Rhys everything then. All about Holly and Owen, but she didn't mention she'd got pregnant whilst she was still with him.

Rhys was in another long term relationship apparently with a girl from work. He said that they were happy and he was even planning on asking her to marry him.

Gwen sighed at that thought. How close had Rhys been to asking her to get married before she started at Torchwood? She turned over closing her eyes, trying to think about the family she had, not the one that might've been.

Owen stayed with Holly through the night. He couldn't bear to leave her even though he knew Gwen was probably worrying. He stroked her sandy brown hair gently off her face.

He was determined to get this Dad thing right. It hadn't been this hard when Holly was smaller so all he had to do was try harder. He'd sort out the food and drink rota's and memorise all her favourites, make sure he knew which toy she wanted, make sure she got plenty of sleep. It wouldn't be that hard and then he could prove to Gwen that he was the person she'd married.

Owen stood up finally when it started to get light, deciding he better get a few hours sleep before Holly woke up. He walked towards the door but paused when he heard a small voice pipe up.

"Daddy?" Owen glanced back and saw Holly's eyes were open.

"What?" He asked gently, his heart leaping at the word 'daddy'.

"Can I sleep with you?" She whimpered.

Owen felt his heart ache at the distress in Holly's voice and nodded, wandering back over and scooping her into his arms. He made sure to bring her favourite toy (a blue soft towel monkey called Banana that she'd had since she was born) and carried her through the living, kicking his shoes off as he went.

Very carefully he climbed into bed next to a sleeping Gwen and tucked Holly in between them, wrapping an arm round her.

"Are you ok?" He said quietly. Holly nodded.

"Love you," she muttered closing her eyes and pulling Banana close.

Owen blinked and swallowed hard to rid the lump in his throat.

"I love you too," he replied, smiling to himself as he closed his own eyes.


	7. Rifts in Time, Space And Relationships

Gwen watched Owen and Holly from her workstation. She was starting to worry about them. It had been a few weeks since Holly's kidnap, and Owen had not only refused to speak about what had happened, he refused to speak about much else.

Holly was retreating back into her own world and she was taking Owen with her. Gwen sighed, placing a hand subconsciously on her stomach. She hadn't gotten around to telling Owen about their second child yet.

She'd had one appointment to see how far along she was, and somehow, it felt like she was pregnant with Holly again. No one else knew, and she felt unable to tell the father. She was only four months gone, but Owen should really know.

Tosh placed a cup of coffee on Gwen's desk and pulled up a chair next to her. She hadn't been too happy either over the past few weeks. She'd split up with her girlfriend after an argument about late nights. Only to be expected when working for Torchwood.

"You ok?" Tosh asked sitting beside Gwen.

"I suppose," Gwen shrugged.

"Ever get the feeling we're missing out on a party?" Tosh nodded at Owen and Holly.

"All the time," Gwen replied sadly. "I think I know how Owen felt all those weeks ago."

"Have you tried talking to him?" Tosh rested her head on one hand, watching Owen and Holly as they built a tower out of the building blocks Owen had bought many years ago when Holly was a lot smaller.

"Yup," Gwen took a sip of the coffee. "But I don't think I'm getting through."

"He'll come round eventually," Tosh said. "It's probably just shock."

"I hope you're right," Gwen sighed again.

Jack and Ianto watched from the boardroom. They had been stood there, for some time, unnoticed by the rest of the team.

"Do you think Owen's ok?" Ianto asked after some minutes.

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "But I think it would be unwise to approach him at the moment. Let him deal with things his own way for a bit. If he hasn't come out of this stupor by the end of the month then we'll have to do something. We can't operate without our doctor."

"Do you think..?" Ianto paused. "Perhaps if we try and engage the pair of them in a game?"

Jack frowned, glancing at Ianto.

"How do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, Holly always seemed to come out of herself when she played a game," Ianto said carefully. "So why don't we get them both to play?"

Jack thought about it. Somehow, he doubted it would work.

"You can try," he replied dubiously. "But what on Earth would you play with them?"

Half an hour later, Ianto was sat cross legged on the floor of the Hub, playing snap with the Torchwood alien cards. Of course with Holly's slightly psychic rift powers, she was easily beating both Ianto and Owen, but it didn't matter. In order to play the game Holly and Owen had both had to acknowledge Ianto's presence. This was a good step.

Jack had to admit he was impressed. Not only was Ianto the cutest guy who knew, and the best coffee maker, he could also handle Rift Children and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ianto never ceased to amaze Jack.

Gwen watched jealously. There was no need to be jealous, she knew. If she only went and took Ianto's place she could easily connect with her family, but somehow, she didn't want to interrupt. She didn't want to force herself upon them.

Oh god, she really was turning into Owen. They had all but swapped places. She wouldn't have been surprised if, had she wandered over, they both cowered away from her like she was some sort of monster.

She couldn't stand it any more; she had to get out the Hub for a bit. Clear her head. She finished her coffee and made to leave, but then saw Tosh, looking just as miserable.

"Fancy a girls night out?" Gwen asked. "Just us."

Tosh looked up startled. She and Gwen had never been enemies as such, but they'd never been particularly close either. Well, not until recently anyway.

"Ok," Tosh smiled standing up and following Gwen out of the Hub.

Jack was still watching them and instantly felt a wave of uneasiness flow through him. Gwen and Tosh had gone off together; Owen and Holly were closing themselves off from the world.

He didn't know what it was but he could sense the team were tearing apart from each other. Only a year ago they'd been normal, Torchwood was one thing, domestic life was another. But somehow the two had managed to collide and it was tearing holes in the fabric of their relationships. The Rift was not the only thing causing tears in their time and space.

This was why Jack needed their involvement to be unemotional. If it hadn't been Holly who'd been kidnapped, if it had been some other Rift Child, Owen wouldn't have stormed into that warehouse, all guns blazing, and done… whatever it was he'd done.

Gwen and Tosh wandered through the town, window shopping and giggling about nothing and everything. Gwen hadn't done this for a long time. Ok, she could have fun shopping trips with Owen and Holly, but not like this. This was something she hadn't done since she was a teenager.

A gang of lads in their mid twenties went past and wolf whistled at the pair of them, causing them to giggle harder.

They couldn't go to a bar what with Gwen's pregnancy, so they went to a coffee shop instead and bought several different cups, comparing them to Ianto's brew. None of them could top his.

It started to get quite late and Gwen wondered vaguely if she ought to head back to the Hub to take Owen and Holly home. Yes it had actually got to the stage where Gwen drove them everywhere.

"Do you want to come back to mine?" Tosh said suddenly.

Gwen was taken aback by the offer, but grinned.

"Yeah, sure," she said. She left a message on Owen's mobile and then left the coffee shop with Tosh, heading back to her flat.


	8. Sleep, sex and beds

_AN: Another for Farimirlover, cause two pressies to make you feel well are better than one. :D_

Owen packed up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He bent down and scooped up Holly who was starting to fall asleep and headed towards the door.

He'd found a message from Gwen on his phone that had informed him he would have to take Holly home and get her to bed. Apparently she was out having fun with Tosh. He strapped Holly in to the front passenger seat and got in the drivers side, preparing to take them both home.

The streets were fairly empty. It must've been later than Owen realised. By the time he got home, Holly had dropped off, so he put her straight into his and Gwen's bed the minute he got home. She'd been sleeping with them for the last few weeks. She kept having nightmares. So did Owen for that matter, but he could deal with them slightly better than a six year old could.

He considered waiting up for Gwen, but then he decided she'd probably be out a long time. So in the end he changed into pyjamas and climbed into bed beside Holly.

Ianto was packing away the playing cards when Jack approached him, wrapping his arms round the younger mans waist, kissing his neck.

"What's that for?" Ianto asked smiling to himself as he carefully put the cards back into their packet.

"Do I need a reason?" Jack asked.

"_You_ do," Ianto replied, turning round and putting his arms round Jack's neck.

"Alright," Jack considered. "You, make _the_ best coffee in the world-"

"True," Ianto nodded.

"-and you're probably _the_ cutest guy I know," Jack continued. "I just wanted to say thank you for what you did earlier with Owen and Holly."

"Just doing my best," Ianto said, his fingers playing with Jack's hair. There was a moment's pause in which Jack struggled to find the words to express what he wanted to say. So instead he settled for the only words floating through his mind.

"I love you," he said quietly.

"I love you too," Ianto replied leaning in and kissing Jack gently.

"Do you fancy a lie in tomorrow?" Jack asked when they broke apart.

"If you make breakfast in bed," Ianto agreed, his forehead resting against Jack's.

"Such hard work," Jack mock complained. "But worth it."

Gwen and Tosh were sat in Tosh's flat, sharing a bottle of Sholer Tosh said she'd been saving for one of those special occasions that never come up. Neither knew how long they'd been sat there, laughing and chatting together, but somehow it didn't matter. They were having fun, more fun than either of them had had in a long time.

Gwen's mobile bleeped and she took it out of her pocket, opening her messages and scanning her eyes over the one she'd just received.

"It's Jack," she said grinning at Tosh. "He says that he and Ianto are having a lie in and we shouldn't come into Torchwood too early."

Tosh giggled.

"You know what they're going to be doing don't you?" She said.

"You sound like a hyper teenager," Gwen said shaking her head slightly.

"Oh shut up! You're no better!" Tosh scowled at her.

"No," Gwen laughed in agreement. "But that's not the point!"

"So what is the point?" Tosh asked raising an eyebrow at Gwen.

"I'm not entirely sure," Gwen said, setting them into a fit of giggles again.

When they finally stopped they stared at each other for a moment awkwardly. Gwen looked away first, feeling guilty that she'd left Owen and Holly alone.

"I ought to be getting back," she said reluctantly.

"Oh, ok…" Tosh set down her glass, before looking back at Gwen.

"I mean… I really should get back to Owen and Holly," Gwen continued.

Tosh just nodded. Gwen tried to get up, move towards the door, to head back to her family, but she found she couldn't. She found that she was moving in the opposite direction. Towards Tosh.

The first kiss was gentle, almost reluctant, but as the minutes passed, they became more and more desperate, hands flying over skin, fingers through hair, pulling each other towards the bedroom.

Owen woke early the next morning to find no one but Holly in the bed. Evidently Gwen hadn't come home last night. He sighed and reached over to the bedside table, picking up his mobile to check through his messages. Nothing from Gwen, but there was one from Jack saying not to come in to early unless he wanted to find his captain in bed with Ianto.

He sighed again and put the mobile back down, turning over to see if he could get back to sleep. But as he turned, he found himself face to face with Holly who had woken up.

"Hello," Owen said, reaching out to brush Holly's sandy brown hair off her face. "Do you want some breakfast?"

"Can I have eggy bread?" Holly asked.

"Yeah," Owen smiled slightly, nodding.

Jack smiled to himself as he watched Ianto sleep. He had never before in all the partners he'd had (and there was quite a list) met someone who looked so unbelievably cute when they were asleep.

Ianto turned over, snuffling and groaning, and Jack had to bite his lip to stop himself laughing and waking the sleeping man.

"Quit staring," Except Ianto was already awake.

"How long have you been awake?" Jack asked his fingers playing Ianto's hair.

"Long enough," Ianto replied opening his eyes.

"What do you fancy for breakfast?" Jack said softly.

"What are you offering?" Ianto grinned.

"Well…" Jack considered. "How does eggs and bacon sound?"

"As long as you're not going to attempt to make coffee again," Ianto laughed.

"Oi! It wasn't that bad!" Jack complained.

"It tasted like you'd squeezed out a Weevil!" Ianto poked Jack in the side with a finger.

"Poke me, will you?" Jack poked Ianto back, knowing exactly where the other man was ticklish.

"Jack! No!" Ianto squirmed, trying to capture Jack's hands in his own.

Jack paused, laughing, pulling Ianto closer.

"You're so cute when you squirm," Jack said, his arms snaking round Ianto's waist.

"I resent being tortured," Ianto pouted.

"Aw, how can I make it up to you?" Jack pouted back.

"Make breakfast in nothing but an apron?" Ianto suggested innocently.

Gwen sat on the end of Tosh's bed, wrapped in one duvet, whilst Tosh was sat at the top wrapped in another.

"We shouldn't have done that," Tosh said quietly, biting her lip.

"Yeah, I know," Gwen turned to look at Tosh. "Sorry."

"Do you want a cup of tea before we head back to the Hub?" Tosh suggested.

Gwen looked like she was going to turn down the offer, but instead she just nodded. Tosh went off to the bathroom to get dressed, leaving Gwen to try and find her clothes.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were sat in Tosh's kitchen, drinking tea. They didn't have to be at Torchwood for another hour, and until then they had no idea what to do.

"We probably shouldn't mention this to Owen," Gwen said.

"No," Tosh agreed. "It's not like it's going to happen again. Is it?"

Gwen didn't answer, just looked down at her cup of tea. The thing was, she didn't really know why she'd slept with Tosh in the first place. She guessed it was because she'd been upset about being shunted out by Owen and Holly, and Tosh was upset about her break up.

"I'm sorry, Tosh," Gwen finally set her mug down. "This is all my fault."

"Well," Tosh paused. "I didn't exactly try to stop things."

"Yeah, but you're available, I'm not," Gwen bit her lip and sighed. "Come on. Let's go to the Hub and forget this."


	9. Discoveries

Gwen and Tosh went to the Hub together, but guilt made them decide that Tosh should go in first and Gwen would follow after a few minutes, just so that no one suspected anything.

Tosh let herself in through the tourist entrance, her bag with her laptop and files full of important notes slung over one shoulder. As she wandered down to the main area of the Hub she couldn't see or hear anyone else and wondered whether Gwen was waiting outside in the cold for nothing.

Sighing to herself, Tosh wandered towards the kitchen to make some coffee. Normally she wouldn't have gone near the coffee machine for Ianto's sake (he was quite protective about it) but this morning she felt she could use some caffeine.

She got the shock of her life when she found Jack stood making bacon and eggs, completely naked bar the pink frilly apron he had on.

"Jack?" She asked staring wide eyed.

Jack turned round holding a spatula in one hand. He grinned at Tosh.

"I told you to have the morning off," he said, struggling not to laugh at the look on Tosh's face.

"What are you doing?" She couldn't take her eyes off him.

"Making breakfast in bed," Jack replied.

Tosh found that things clicked into place then.

"Oh, Ianto, yeah," she ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I'll go set up, leave you to it."

Jack frowned slightly as he noticed for the first time the distant and anxious look somewhere deep in Tosh's eyes.

"You alright Tosh?" He asked carefully.

"What? Oh yeah, just didn't sleep well," she shrugged and went off to her workstation. _Because I was having sex with Gwen,_ she felt like adding, but didn't.

Gwen came down a few minutes after Jack had disappeared with the breakfast. Tosh didn't even look up as the Welsh girl sidled past. They began to go over their admin in silence, all the time very aware of the other person sat just across the Hub.

Owen and Holly finished breakfast and whilst Holly went to play with her toys, Owen did the washing up. He was considering calling in sick and not bothering with Torchwood at all, but then he reasoned that Holly tended to get edgy if she didn't visit the rift for a few days.

In the end, Owen packed everything up and drove them to the Hub, deciding that if necessary he could take Holly out to the park.

When he arrived at the Hub though, Jack and Ianto were nowhere in sight, and Gwen and Tosh were working silently, like they'd had an argument or something. Owen nodded to Gwen as he passed and took Holly down towards the centre area, where he could help her set up her blocks.

Gwen felt like bursting into tears. She was racked with guilt, and Owen wouldn't even talk to her. She felt like she was losing her family. To top it all off, she felt sick and had to go to the bathroom.

Once in there, she sat on one of the toilet seats and cried. How had she managed to let things get away from her so easily? One of the first things Jack had ever told her when she joined Torchwood, was not to let her domestic life disappear.

Someone came in and Gwen stiffened, looking up. Tosh appeared in the cubicle doorway and gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, Gwen," she said quietly.

"It's not your fault," Gwen sniffed, smiling slightly. "We're going round in circles."

"Maybe you should tell Owen," Tosh said after a moments pause.

"Are you mad?" Gwen frowned at her. "It was one mistake. One mistake that he doesn't need to know about."

"I meant about the baby," Tosh said calmly.

"Oh," Gwen nodded. "Maybe."

"He might come out of his stupor," Tosh urged.

Gwen sighed, wiping her face with some tissue and standing up. Tosh smiled weakly.

"Thing'll get better," she said as Gwen stepped closer.

"Yeah," Gwen's eyes flicked from Tosh's eyes to her lips.

Jack and Ianto finally emerged from Jack's office, Ianto looking as immaculate as ever. He went straight to the kitchen to start making coffee whilst Jack went down to join Owen.

"Where's Tosh?" Jack asked, sitting beside father and daughter as they built things out of Duplo blocks.

"Bathroom," Owen replied, pressing another block into place. Well that was a start; Owen had at least made conversation.

"Ok," Jack picked up a Duplo piece and handed it to Holly.

"With Gwen," Owen continued. Even better, Owen was talking without having to be spoken too. Then what he said had sunk in.

"With Gwen?" Jack frowned slightly. "Have they had an argument or something? Tosh did seem distracted when she came in this morning."

"Dunno," Owen shrugged.

"Maybe… maybe someone should go check on them?" Jack suggested.

"Are you hinting at me?" Owen asked looking at Jack.

Jack was startled by the eye contact. It seemed that all of a sudden Owen had seen fit to make contact with the rest of the world again.

"Well, yeah," Jack shrugged. "But only if you want to."

"Ok," Owen stood up. "Watch Holly for me?"

Jack nodded and Owen wandered towards the female toilet. As he opened the door, he had thought he'd been prepared to find anything. Tosh and Gwen fighting on the floor, Tosh and Gwen screaming at each other, Tosh and Gwen talking quietly. What he hadn't expected was to open the door and find Tosh and Gwen kissing, pressed up against the sinks.


	10. Psychics and Children

Owen didn't know what to say. At first he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He thought perhaps another sex pheromone had escaped again and was residing in one of them. Before his thoughts could progress any further though, the two women broke apart, obviously sensing someone watching them.

Gwen and Tosh both looked horror struck when they caught sight of Owen. They moved towards him, both talking at nineteen to the dozen but he wasn't listening to either of them. He simply turned and headed back into the Hub where Holly was still sat building a tower still.

"You caught them didn't you?" Holly said quietly, glancing up at her Dad. Owen nodded mutely and continued to help her with her construction.

Jack frowned at the pair of them and then up at Gwen and Tosh, both of whom were gabbling and both of whom looked close to tears.

"Right, you pair, my office, now," Jack said to Gwen and Tosh when they took a breath.

They looked at Jack sorrowfully but did as they were told, heading towards the top office. Jack glanced back at Owen and Holly, who both seemed content to sit and carry on with the Duplo blocks.

Jack went up to the office and faced the two women. Gwen was crying properly now, taking shaky breaths every so often. Tosh was biting her thumb, her other arm folded across her side.

"Do either of you want to tell me what's going on?" Jack asked.

Gwen and Tosh looked at each other for a moment before proceeding to tell Jack everything. They revealed that they had slept together and that they'd kissed again, just now in the toilet.

Jack frowned as he listened to their story and when they finally finished he folded his arms and looked at them both carefully.

"I suggest that you apologise to Owen then and see if he'll forgive you," Jack said quietly. "Then go home the lot of you and don't bring the domestics back to work. We've got enough with Holly coming, we don't need any more."

Jack was firm, but gentle. Gwen and Tosh both nodded gratefully and left the office heading down to the main part of the Hub. Ianto came out of the kitchen with a tray of coffee just as Tosh and Gwen were apologising profusely to Owen. He looked at them slightly confused and then glanced up at Jack's office, sensing someone watching him.

Jack gave him an 'I'll explain later' look. Ianto nodded and was about to ask if Gwen and Tosh wanted their coffees when they just walked past out of the Hub. Ianto frowned slightly, but glanced back at Owen.

"Would you like this coffee, Owen?" Ianto asked.

Owen looked up and nodded, taking the mug from Ianto. He took a sip and then set it down beside him as he began to build a second part to the Duplo structure.

Ianto took the rest of the mugs up to Jack's office and set the tray down on his desk, coming to stand beside the other man.

"What's happened?" He asked, his hand slipping into Jack's.

"Gwen and Tosh had a one night stand," Jack replied, watching Owen carefully.

"Oh," Ianto didn't know what else to say.

"They said it was just as one off, Tosh was upset about Nia, Gwen was upset about Owen," Jack shrugged. "I told them it was none of Torchwood's business."

"Right," Ianto nodded.

"I think Holly already knew," Jack frowned slightly. "We should probably investigate her psychic powers further. She could know a lot more than she's letting on."

"Good idea," Ianto agreed.

"She's a good kid though," Jack continued.

"She's got good parents," Ianto replied. "When they're concentrating on each other properly."

"Mm," Jack nodded smiling wryly. He paused for a moment. "Ever considered having kids?"

Ianto glanced at Jack pondering.

"Yeah," he said finally. "You?"

"Between running about saving the universe and running away from aliens, not really had time to consider it," Jack admitted. "But I could see myself bringing up a family eventually. With you."

He looked at Ianto and saw the other man had turned slightly pink.

"We could always look at adoption," Ianto said. "But I don't know how willing to hand over a child any social worker would be when they find out you don't technically exist."

"I wasn't thinking of adoption actually," Jack bit his lip for a moment. "I know of another way."

Ianto shot him a curious look and Jack proceeded to explain. He had in fact been pregnant himself once, carried a child for someone else in his future. He knew it was possible for a man to get pregnant and he had the stuff to make it happen.

"Jack, that's quite a big step," Ianto said carefully, not wanting to sound like he was totally against the idea.

"Yeah, but we had our partnership in the same month Gwen and Owen got married, so we've been together, five years…" Jack paused trying to work it out in his head.

"Five years, four months and thirteen days," Ianto replied. "Not that I'm counting."

"Course you're not," Jack said grinning. "Think about it. You don't have to answer now, but the offer's there if you want to take it up."

Ianto nodded still pondering.

"I'm just gonna go and check on Owen," Jack said suddenly, letting go of Ianto's hand and heading for the door of his office.

"Ok," Ianto watched Jack's retreating back slip away.

Jack wandered down the metal stairs towards Owen. The man hadn't stopped what he was doing and Jack was beginning to worry that Gwen's betrayal might've hurt him more than they realised.

"Alright, Owen?" Jack asked, sitting beside Owen and Holly.

"Yeah," Owen nodded, glancing at Jack. Well that was a good sign. He was still making conversation and giving eye contact.

"What did you say to Gwen and Tosh?" Jack said carefully.

"Forgave them and told Gwen I'd be home later," Owen looked at Jack again. "I needed a bit of time to think things over. And make sure that Holly wasn't too affected by what she knew was going on."

"Well that's good," Jack stood up again. "You can go whenever you want. I'll ring you if there's an emergency. Come back tomorrow nice and early though, the admin's piling up."

"Ok," Owen looked at Jack gratefully. "Thanks, Jack."

"Welcome," Jack replied, walking away, back towards the stairs.

"Ianto's going to say yes by the way," Owen said before he could stop himself. Jack glanced back frowning slightly.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," Owen replied quickly.

Jack watched Owen for a few seconds longer, before turning back to the stairs and wandering back up to his office. Ianto was still waiting there.

"How's Owen?" He asked, his voice sounding tight.

"He's fine," Jack shrugged. "I reckon they'll all be fine once they sort things out."

Jack decided not to tell Ianto about his suspicions over Owen. Not until they were confirmed.

"So, ummm," Jack paused. "Thought anymore about what I said?"

"Yeah," Ianto said, looking at his feet and smiling slightly.

"And your answer is?" Jack asked. "No pressure either way."

"Yes," Ianto grinned looking up.


	11. Forgiven

Owen took Holly home not long later, intent on talking to Gwen. Holly remained silent the whole way home, but the minute Owen opened the front door she ran straight into her mothers arms.

"Hello," Gwen said, smiling blearily as she gave Holly a hug.

"Holly, why don't you go and play in your bedroom for a bit?" Owen suggested. Holly glanced at him and then at Gwen.

"Don't be mad at Mummy!" Holly said quietly. "She didn't mean to be bad."

Owen nodded.

"I know," he said, bending down so he was at Holly's eye level. "And I forgive her, but we still need to talk. If you want to, you can bring your toys in here, yeah? But I don't want you to worry about anything we say ok?"

Holly nodded, and turned to head to her bedroom to fetch whatever toys she decided on. Owen turned to Gwen and sat down on the sofa next to her.

"I'm sorry, Owen," Gwen began, but Owen held his hands up.

"Look, Gwen, I've got to tell you something," Owen bit his lip.

"Nothing can be any worse than what I did," Gwen replied. "I don't deserve your forgiveness."

"I'm in no place to judge, Gwen," Owen rubbed his face. "I… I killed the guy who kidnapped Holly."

Gwen nodded silently.

"But they never found a body," she said carefully.

"No… I don't really know how I did it, or what I did afterwards," Owen shrugged. "All I remember is going to save Holly and then it's all a bit blurry before I come out with her from that warehouse."

Gwen glanced up as Holly bought her box of plastic animals into the living room. She looked back at Owen.

"I've got something to tell you too," she admitted. "I'm pregnant again."

Owen stared for a moment, glancing at Holly before glancing back at Gwen.

"Oh," he said.

"When I found out, we were ok, but then all this happened…" Gwen paused. "I understand if you don't want it."

"Course I do!" Owen said, smiling. "We should just… start again, yeah?"

"Yeah," Gwen agreed, reaching over to hug Owen.

Tosh paced around her flat, unable to sit still. She felt like there were rats scrabbling around in her stomach. She could just about live with Owen never talking to her again, yeah it would hurt, but it wouldn't make her feel as bad as if she was the reason Gwen and Owen split up. She couldn't live with the fact that she would be responsible for destroying Holly's family.

It was one mistake, one mistake that she knew she would never make again. Picking up her mobile she checked the messages for what felt like the millionth time that hour. Still no sign of a text from either Gwen or Owen. Not that she expected them to talk to her ever again.

Sighing she sat down on the sofa, running a hand through her hair. She almost jumped when her phone bleeped. Tosh snatched it up and glanced over the message she'd received.

_Hey, Tosh _

_All is forgiven. Try not to worry, yeah?_

_O xxx_

Tosh read and re-read the message; sure that it must be some kind of joke. Owen wasn't as cold as steel but he did tend to hold a grudge. Or at least he used to before Gwen.

After they'd disappeared, Jack had gone down to the archives to fish out the solution that had washed through the rift from his own time. It was one of the few reminders of home he had left.

He picked it off the shelf and looked at the blue liquid sighing to himself. He'd used this himself several years before. Or several years later depending on how you looked at it. He'd carried the child for a friend who couldn't conceive themselves. He'd mentioned it to the team before, but it had been one of those wild stories that they never knew whether to believe or not.

Jack pocketed the vile of liquid and wandered back up into the Hub's main area. After Ianto had agreed to having kids with Jack the pair of them had decided to talk things over and wait until the situation with the other members had blown over. Ianto had pointed out that there's always some kind of situation at Torchwood.

Jack knew this and had changed what he said to 'when the current situation had blown over'. They both needed to know that could cope, especially after what they'd seen Owen and Gwen. Course, Ianto wasn't the sort to enter into something that he wasn't prepared to stick out and Jack wasn't about to let someone so important slip away.

"Are you sure this stuff works?" Ianto asked as he examined the beaker Jack had put down on his desk in his office.

"Yup, I've used it before, I told you," Jack had already explained his previous use of the solution before he'd gone to fetch it.

"Alright," Ianto still looked doubtful. "How does it work?"

"You drink it, you raise your chances of getting pregnant by seventy percent, even in males," Jack replied. "So, do you still want to go ahead with this?"

Ianto nodded, smiling slightly.

"If you think you can handle becoming a Dad," he agreed.


	12. Future Flashes

Jack was slightly unnerved by how quickly the whole team seemed to get back to normal. Gwen, Owen and Holly were acting like a family unit, Owen, Gwen and Tosh seemed to be on close friend terms as though nothing had happened and Holly was unusually chatty, apparently willing to leave her own world and enter theirs.

Something was wrong. It had to be. It never happened like this. Jack had seen this situation so many times before and each time it had ended ion disaster. He had witnessed far too many strange things not to be able to sense when something was up.

"Are you sure that it can't just be a happy ending for once?" Ianto asked gently, taking Jack's hand as he stood next to his partner in the boardroom, watching the rest of the team below.

"No, something's wrong about all this," Jack ran his free hand through his hair. "I… I didn't say anything before, but Owen knew you were going to agree."

"Agree to what?" Ianto asked.

"To having kids," Jack paused, frowning down at Owen. "He just knew. It was like…"

Jack paled slightly.

"What?" Ianto knew instinctively when Jack was onto something and something bad at that.

"No, its fine, I can't be right," Jack waved the idea away.

"Don't say that!" Ianto moaned. "You're _always _right when you say that!"

"Am I?" Jack bit his lip. "Well I suppose I'd better explain my hunch then…"

Gwen and Tosh were stood chatting, watching Owen play with Holly. The pair had talked over what had happened between them and though they had both admitted they felt very close, both decided that it was a one night stand that had happened only because they were upset.

"I told Owen about the baby as well," Gwen grinned.

"How far gone are you now?" Tosh asked.

"I haven't checked the dates officially yet, I've got an appointment this afternoon, but I think I'm roughly five months," Gwen replied. "I've certainly got a bit of a bump anyway."

She rested one hand on her stomach, glancing over at her family and smiling contentedly.

Owen and Holly were chasing each other round the Hub, chattering so fast that it was hard to understand what they were saying sometimes. But they seemed to be having fun and that was all that mattered.

Until Holly suddenly stopped and Owen caught up to her, gathering her up in his arms.

"Daddy, I don't want Mummy to have the baby," she said, turning to look at her father. Owen frowned slightly.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because he'll bring bad things," Holly replied.

"A baby won't do any harm, Holly," Owen promised, brushing her sandy brown hair off her face.

"But he will!" Holly insisted.

"What's going to happen?" Owen asked, setting Holly on one hip, whilst he wandered over to his workstation to clean up some of the papers that had fallen off when they'd been running round.

"He's going to kill Mummy!" Holly said sadly. "He doesn't mean to, but he will…"

Owen stared at Holly for a moment and then sat her down on his desk, looking at her carefully.

"How do you know this Holly?" He asked.

"I can see it," Holly shrugged then tapped her head. "In here."

Owen pondered this for a moment.

"How is the baby going to kill Mummy?" He said very carefully.

"Mummy's…" Holly paused, looking at Owen through her big electric blue eyes. "Mummy's going to be left behind."

Owen frowned slightly, but Holly refused to say anything else after that. So in the end Owen scooped her up and took her to find something to drink to calm her down a bit.

Ianto was willing to accept Jack's explanation. It certainly fitted their current situation, but it was how to deal with it that Jack seemed to be having trouble with.

"You see, Gwen's distant ancestor was the responsible for her own parents deaths and I don't want Holly to be the same," Jack bit his lip considering.

"Can't you just monitor her psychic connections?" Ianto asked.

"I could, but it would be tricky," Jack admitted. "And even if I was able to, I wouldn't know how to break the connection."

"What about if you just asked Holly to break it?" Ianto suggested. "She must have some control over her powers?"

"Anything's worth a try," Jack agreed. "I'll set up a scanner tomorrow to see if she's actually using her powers at all."

Ianto nodded.

"Want a cup of tea?" He asked.

"Yeah, thanks, love," Jack gave Ianto a quick kiss wondering silently to himself what he would do without the Welshman.


	13. So It Begins

Owen yawned as he wandered into the dark kitchen to find a glass of water. It was a hot night and he hadn't slept much. Gwen had been tossing and turning next to him, the duvet discarded on the floor as the pair of them slept in just a nightie and boxer shorts.

In the end Owen had offered to fetch some cold water for the pair of them. As he waited for the tap to fill the jug he glanced out the kitchen window. He could see across most of Cardiff city, the Millennium centre just visible.

Owen smiled to himself as he thought about what was hidden underneath the water tower in front of the centre. He was one of only five people who knew the Hub was there. Of course there were other previous members (who were all dead. Jack was serious when he said this was a job you didn't quit) and other Torchwood bases, but only those who worked at Torchwood three knew of its exact location. It was a mind boggling thought.

Owen turned off the tap and picked up two glasses, intending to head back to the bedroom when he heard a muttering coming from Holly's room. He wandered towards the door and pushed it open a crack with his foot.

Through the gap he could just see Holly's outline. She was stood in front of her window, talking to herself. Owen frowned and pushed the door open further, stepping in.

"Holly?" Owen asked gently.

Holly didn't look over; she just continued to watch something out the window, muttering under her breath. Owen set the jug and glasses on Holly's bedside table and wandered over to his daughter, sitting beside her in the window seat.

"Holly," Owen said again, tucking Holly's hair behind her ear.

"They're here," she whispered, still not looking at Owen.

Owen glanced out the window to see what Holly was looking at. There was nothing but the twinkling lights of the city and the sun just appearing above the horizon.

"Come on, back to bed," Owen said, picking Holly up and carrying her back to her bed. "Try to get some sleep honey."

Holly looked up at Owen and nodded.

"If you still can't sleep later, come into our room, ok?" Holly nodded again at Owen and he picked up the water, heading back to Gwen.

She was lying wide awake, waiting for Owen.

"What took you so long?" She asked enquiringly.

"Holly was awake," Owen said, deciding not to worry her with Holly's strange behaviour.

Gwen nodded, taking the jug and one of the glasses, pouring out the water. Owen sat beside her on the bed, watching her.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "You?"

Owen knew that the answer should've been 'yes', but for some reason, something felt out of place.

Jack was up half the night setting up the scanners. The only thing that kept him going was Ianto's company and fresh cups of coffee.

"Thanks," Jack said as Ianto bought him another mug.

"Welcome," Ianto said, flopping on the sofa in Jack's office and picking up the magazine he'd been reading. He could've got some sleep whilst Jack worked, it didn't require the two of them to be up, but Ianto found it hard to rest when he knew someone else was working hard. "Did you know that-?"

"Ianto," Jack interrupted. "If you're about to tell me that fact 'women blink twice as often as men' then it'll be the third time."

"Sorry," Ianto glanced at Jack apologetically.

"Why don't you go to bed?" Jack asked, frowning at his computer monitor.

"Because, love, this is what couples do," Ianto turned the page so as not to repeat himself again. "We'll be doing this for several years if we had kids you know."

"Yeah, I know," Jack replied.

"Then stop complaining," Ianto mumbled.

"I'm not," Jack stuck his tongue out at Ianto, though the other man was facing the other way.

"I might be sleepy, but there's a mirror on the wall," Ianto bent his head back so he could see Jack upside down and stuck his tongue out too.

"I would argue," Jack began.

"But you're far too tired," Ianto completed his sentence for him.

"And that," Jack said, holding his hands up in the air as he finished setting up the scanner programme. "Why I love you."

"I love you too," Ianto stood up and wandered over, checking the computer. "You missed out a piece of the binary there."

Jack frowned and looked at where Ianto was pointing, then groaned. Ianto rolled his eyes, pulled the keyboard towards himself and quickly tapped in a few numbers. Jack looked up and smiled.

"Thank you," he said, standing up and stretching.

"Now, I think we ought to go o bed before we collapse," Ianto grinned back, heading towards the ladder that lead down to the back room.

Neither noticed the computer readings change as they headed down towards the cool bed waiting for them.


	14. Visions

_There were cars crashed and burning, people running around shouting for loved ones and screaming in horror at the carnage. Large spaceships were hovering over Cardiff, shooting what could only be described as blue lasers. It all seemed very sci-fi. _

_Owen wandered slightly dazed down the middle of the road. People ran past him gathering up children and other family members, heading for a safe place. Owen put a hand up to his head and when he bought it back down it was covered in blood. That would explain at least why he couldn't think straight._

_Then he heard another sound. Someone else was shouting, but not for loved ones. They were shouting instructions. Looking up Owen caught sight of Jack trying to calm down a hysterical Gwen. Tosh was with them, attempting to hold Gwen back and stop her from running straight out into the middle of the chaos._

_They suddenly seemed to notice Owen and called out to him, gesturing for him to get out of the way and come with them were ever he was going. But he couldn't. Someone who should've been there wasn't. He somehow knew that Ianto was in the Hub, safe and sound and on the way to becoming a parent. So that left only one person. One small, sandy brown haired girl._

_Owen spotted Holly a few meters up the road, looking up at the spaceships, almost hypnotised by them. Ignoring the team, he rushed forward and gathered his daughter into his arms. As he picked her up though, he saw a lorry, out of control and unable to stop, heading right for them. He ordered himself to move, but his body was frozen to the spot. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, the lorry was only a few seconds away, yet it seemed to take an age to reach him._

_As everything seemed to happen in slow motion, he turned to Gwen. The only thing he could hear was his own heart pounding in his ears, but just before the truck hit him he managed to mouth 'I love you'. In that instant he knew that Gwen had realised there was nothing she could do, she stopped struggling and watched in defeat as the truck hit Owen-_

Owen sat bolt upright, his heart hammering against his chest. One hand flew to his head, checking for injuries and then he realised he was in bed and couldn't possibly be hurt. His breathing came in short sharp gasps, just as it had done in his dream. His dream. It had seemed so real.

Owen was suddenly aware of someone watching him and glancing over to the doorway he saw Holly clutching Banana. She was watching him intently as if she knew what he'd been dreaming of.

"Can't sleep," she mumbled, though from the look on her face, Owen knew that was a lie. Somehow Holly had just shown him something that was going to happen.

Owen gestured for Holly to join them in the bed. Glancing at Gwen he saw she was still fast asleep. Owen pulled Holly into the middle of the bed and tucked her in, though there were only a few hours before they had to be up anyway.

He tried to remember all the details in the vision. Maybe he could stop it happening? But all he got were different flashes from somewhere else.

Gwen smiling and handing him a red sock, Tosh handing Owen some interesting UFO readings, Jack telling Gwen that she needed to stay behind, Gwen sitting next to him in the SUV as they made their way to central Cardiff, Gwen being hit by a truck…

Owen paused and tried to think about the last flash again. Gwen was stood in the same road he had been in the vision. He frowned thinking over the two different possibilities. They were meant to be a warning of some kind. A message telling him that he had to change things.

"You can't change the future Daddy," Holly whispered. Owen looked at her, more than a little freaked out. "But things don't have to end badly."

Owen pondered this. He hated it when people were cryptic, but then again he hated thinking about time because it made his head hurt.

After a few minutes, he got up and headed towards the kitchen, intent on making breakfast. There wasn't much point trying to sleep anymore so he decided he might as well get up.

Holly followed him, clutching Banana to her tightly. She pulled a chair from the living into the kitchen and sat on it, leaning on the counter unit.

"Holly," Owen, turned to his daughter watching her carefully. "Did you see Mummy hit by the truck?"

Holly nodded, looking down at the top of the counter.

"Did you see me and you hit by the truck?" He continued. Again a nod. "Do you know which one is going to happen?"

Holly shook her head, looking up at Owen with her electric blue eyes.

"It's just two of many possibilities," she replied.

"Why did you show me?" Owen asked.

"Because you can stop the bad things," Holly picked at her pyjamas. "The baby's going to kill Mummy. Mummy's going to kill us."

Back at the Hub Jack was wandering around his bedroom, eating toast, and contemplating getting dressed. Ianto was still dozing, the covers pulled right up over his head.

"You lazy lump, get up," Jack said finally, bored with being alone.

"Bugger off," Ianto moaned, blindly throwing a pillow in Jack's direction, that fell short by several feet.

"What's up with you?" Jack frowned slightly.

"I feel sick," Ianto replied. "I'll be fine."

Jack just shook his head and began searching for his abandoned clothes. When he was finally dressed he decided to leave Ianto in bed and check on the computer programme.

As he climbed the ladder and sat down in his chair, he suddenly realised the computer was bleeping. He clicked open the things he needed and frowned again. He was picking up odd UFO readings.

He sat back pondering and his eye fell upon a glass vial on his desk. It was empty bar the last few drops of blue liquid. _Ianto's feeling sick…_

Jack grinned and completely forgot the scanner programme as he went to quiz Ianto about the pregnancy liquid.


	15. Deja Vu

Jack climbed back down the ladder to find Ianto groaning, still completely submerged in the duvet. Wandering over Jack sat on the edge of the bed.

"What?" Ianto asked as the bed sagged slightly under Jack's weight.

"When did you drink this?" Jack held up the empty vial.

Ianto pulled the covers back far enough to see what Jack was talking about and then disappeared again.

"About a week ago, when you were first worried about Owen," came the muffled reply. "Why?"

"And you're feeling sick?" Jack wondered how long it would take for Ianto to realise what he was hinting at.

"Yeah, so?" Ianto shifted slightly. "Oh…"

"Yeah," Jack smiled slightly. "I'll find out a test in a bit shall I?"

"Yeah," Ianto stretched. "I'll get up in a minute. No doubt the others will be expecting coffee when they arrive."

"Alright," Jack stood up and returned to his desk, deciding that he'd better make some pretence at work.

He studied the UFO sightings a little more closely and then sent out the relevant readings to Tosh, Gwen and Owen's workstations, then turned his attention to the scanner he'd set up.

It was showing normal readings now but it appeared that approximately three in the morning, it had fluctuated for a few minutes, before returning to normal. Opening the programme in more detail Jack was able to find that Owen had had a dream. But this wasn't just any dream, because Holly had one at the exact same time, causing the exact same readings. This was technically impossible since it meant they had had the same dream.

Of course, Holly being a Rift Child meant it wasn't impossible. In fact it was highly probable. Jack had suspected that after being kidnapped and then rescued by her Dad, the bond between Holly and Owen had strengthened considerably. So much so, that Holly had begun to show Owen some of the things she could see.

Jack knew only too well just what Holly could see. She'd shown him a thing or two when she was smaller. Things that he wasn't sure whether he should be pleased or angry about. She'd shown him an alien. A very familiar alien, with a pin striped suit and glasses.

Apparently he was safe and well, which Jack was thankful for, but he resented being forgotten. Ianto appeared beside him as Jack was printing out some of the readings. The Welshman looked green around the edges and moved slowly as though he were afraid he would collapse if he moved any faster.

"It'll wear off you know," Jack said, looking up as Ianto reached the office door.

"I know," he replied, glancing back at Jack and smiling weakly.

Ianto wandered slowly down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. Just as he reached the doorway, he heard the cog wheel door opening and caught sight of Tosh coming in, arms full of paperwork.

"Morning," Ianto said as he watched Tosh reach her desk and collapse into her chair.

"Hi, Ianto," Tosh looked up, flustered.

"Coffee?"

"Please," Tosh smiled gratefully at him as she booted up her computer and sighed. Jack had been sending her stuff.

Jack finished his printouts and began to arrange them, when the computer started bleeping again. Frowning he opened up the scanner programme. Seemed like Holly was showing Owen something again.

_Owen saw the truck coming, but even as he grabbed Holly he knew there was no time to move out of the way. But as it hit, he didn't feel any pain. In fact it was quite different. Almost pleasant. _

_The scene switched and suddenly he was holding Holly in the flat. It was in total chaos. There was paper strewn everywhere and it looked like Gwen had been going through their photo albums. Pictures of the three of them together were scattered across the coffee table._

_Owen walked towards it carefully. Still holding Holly he bent down and picked up a photo he'd never seen before. It was of a tiny baby in an incubator, wires coming off every inch of him or her. Turning the photo over Owen saw that Gwen had written something on the back._

_If only your Daddy and Sister could see you…_

Owen took several short sharp breaths as he leant against the sink. Gwen looked up from the toast she had just set in front of Holly.

"Are you ok, Owen?" She said worriedly.

Owen looked at her and then at Holly who was staring straight back, electric blue eyes sending shivers down Owen's spine.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I just… it was déjà vu is all."

Gwen frowned slightly but didn't push the subject. Once they had all finished breakfast Owen went with Holly to help her get ready. Being six years old Holly could manage most things by herself, but Owen wanted to talk to her about the visions.

"Holly?" Owen said carefully as she opened her draws looking for clean clothes. She didn't look up, but he knew that she'd heard. "You said we can stop the bad things."

Holly looked up then and nodded.

"How do we stop the bad things happening?" He asked.

"By making the right choices," Holly replied.

Owen opened his mouth to say something else but just then Gwen came into the bedroom.

"Dear me, you two would forget your heads if they weren't screwed on! I found this down the back of the sofa," Gwen said, grinning and holding out a red sock to Owen. "Is it yours?"

"Yeah," Owen just about managed to say, taking the sock from her.


	16. Secrets

Tosh sighed as she continued to examine the different readings Jack had been sending her. It looked like he'd been up half the night and knowing the Captain the way she did, he probably had. It would explain why Ianto looked tired.

Just as this thought floated across her mind, Jack wandered down from his office, hastily stuffing something into the pocket of his trousers. He smiled at Tosh and quickly walked past towards the kitchen.

Tosh glanced back at her computer not wanting to seem like she was prying, though she wondered what Jack appeared to be taking to Ianto.

Whatever was going on no doubt she'd be informed eventually. She turned back to the UFO readings again and waited for Gwen and Owen to arrive.

Ianto heard Jack before he saw the other man. He turned and saw the Captain heading towards him, hands stuffed in pockets, head down, obviously trying not to worry Tosh. When he reached Ianto he smiled slightly.

"I fished this out the archives," Jack said, pulling out a pregnancy test from his pocket. "It's better than the normal earth ones."

Ianto took it, glancing it over.

"I'll go take it when I've finished the coffee," he said, turning back to the coffee machine.

Jack wrapped his arms round Ianto's waist stepping closer and kissing his neck.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Jack, you should really stop distracting me," Ianto mock complained.

"Then stop being so damn sexy," Jack replied, grinning, not moving away from his partner.

"It's a good job that after years of practise then, I can still make coffee with you wrapped around me," Ianto poured out the coffee into four mugs and made a special herbal tea for Gwen, putting everything onto a tray before Jack finally reluctantly let go.

Jack hovered round as Ianto left the mugs on various desks. Ianto couldn't turn without seeing the Captain.

"I'm going!" Ianto said finally, heading towards the toilets.

Jack grinned as he watched Ianto go. He caught Tosh watching the pair, looking slightly confused.

"What are you two up to?" She asked.

"Nothing," Jack smiled mysteriously, heading up to his office again.

Gwen and Owen were just heading out f the flat with Holly when his mobile went off. Swapping his daughter to his other hip, Owen pulled out the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Owen, where the hell are you?" Jack sounded pretty miffed.

"We're on our way," Owen replied drearily.

"You better be. It's half nine and we've got some things you need to look at," Jack hung up before Owen had time to answer.

"Oh I'm sorry that my family have to come before work you stupid-"

"Owen," Gwen cut across Owen's rant to himself before he could say anything particularly crude.

"Alright," Owen sighed, shoving the mobile back in his pocket.

He strapped Holly into the back of their car and then got in the front. He glanced at Gwen wondering if he ought to tell her about the visions, but then he caught sight of Holly in the rear view mirror shaking her head.

Owen didn't really notice where he was driving. He was thinking about what he'd seen and it came as a bit of a shock when Gwen nudged him and asked if he was going to get out or sit in the car all day.

The pair of them finally made it into the Hub, Owen carrying the day bag and Holly, Gwen heading up towards Jack's office to see exactly what was going on. Owen dumped the bag under his desk and sat down in his chair, Holly on his knee and downed the cup of coffee waiting for him in one go.

"Tough morning?" Tosh asked.

"Yeah, and it hasn't even started yet," Owen grinned.

"I've got these for you," Tosh said, handing over a sheet of paper. "Jack mailed them to me."

Owen paled as he saw the UFO readings. Holly glanced up at her Dad as she saw the paper. Tosh must've noticed the odd behaviour because she nudged Owen.

"Hey, I said are you ok?" She asked again.

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I just… déjà vu."

In Jack's office, Gwen was looking over the files that the Captain had handed her. Jack was starting to get edgy now wishing she would leave, but Gwen had too many questions to notice.

Jack doubted whether Gwen had even realised that Ianto was hovering by the door, pregnancy test in hand, waiting patiently for her to leave as well so he could talk to Jack privately.

"How many UFO's have been sighted?" Gwen asked.

"Three so far, but they've all disappeared and Tosh can't seem to track them," Jack replied, trying not to let himself sound too strained.

"Ok," Gwen headed towards the door but paused before she made it out. Jack bit his tongue to stop himself saying anything. "You want me to find out if there's any connection between the people who spotted the UFO's?"

"Yes please," Jack said, crossing his fingers and praying that Gwen would leave.

Gwen nodded and finally left through the door. As soon as she was gone both Jack and Ianto sighed, the Welshman heading over to the Captains desk.

"What does it say?" He asked, slightly impatient due to the long time it had taken Ianto to emerge from the toilet.

Ianto bit his lip, wondering whether he ought to tell Jack, or wait. Make him sweat it out. But he couldn't keep the grin off his face and he had to hand the test over.

Positive.


	17. Promises

Tosh spent the morning trying to track the UFO's progress and finally managed to get something up on the big monitors. There appeared to be, judging by the patterns of waves she was getting, three ships in total, flying in a sort of arc across central Cardiff.

She was still working on finding out exactly where they had come from when Gwen found a connection between the people who had spotted them.

"They're all born on May 24th," Gwen frowned slightly. "That's Holly's birthday."

Tosh wandered over holding some UFO readings in her hands. She skim read the files to see if anything else made sense.

"Maybe that date is somehow significant to the Rift?" Tosh suggested. "Or they could all be Rift People?"

Gwen nodded.

"That's what I thought, but Jack sent me all the Rift details when Holly was born," she continued. "None of them are related to the current generations and Jack said spontaneous Rift generations were highly rare. I'd need a blood sample to know more, but I don't think they are."

"Then maybe it's just the date?" Tosh thought it over. "It could be that the Rift is stronger on May 24th and affected them as children so they could see things that others couldn't?"

"Mmm," Gwen nodded. "I'll check out some other people with the same birthday, see if they've ever seen things that others haven't."

Tosh made her way past Gwen's workstation and up towards Jack's office. Since Ianto had emerged some time before, looking pleased with himself, no one had seen Jack. She knocked and entered when he called out, wandering over to the desk and placing down the readings that Jack needed to look at.

"Gwen thinks she's got a connection between the people who saw them," she said, glancing momentarily at the computer screen and frowning when she saw Jack was looking at a site selling baby clothes.

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked, quickly changing the website when he saw Tosh's odd look.

"They're all born on May 24th," she replied.

"Holly's birthday?" Tosh nodded as she put down the files she was holding and headed downstairs.

Jack looked over the files, frowning to himself slightly. They weren't of Rift heritage, so being born on that day must have something else to do with the Rift. He sighed to himself. He was going to have a long day working things out.

Owen was busy tying to juggle Holly as well as looking over the UFO readings Jack had sent him and the comparison ones Tosh had handed over. He was getting flustered wondering why exactly it was down to him when Ianto was the archivist. Surely the person who knew all the files in the Hub backwards should be the one looking for similar happenings.

But no, apparently Jack's partner was more important than everyone else and Owen was now being landed with the extra jobs.

He sighed, closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Ok, that wasn't fair. If Jack had given Ianto the day of from his normal odd jobs then he had a reason. Owen was only being given them because he was trusted to be able to manage them.

He looked down at Holly who was playing quietly by his feet, under his desk with some play dough. He glanced back at his computer screen and suddenly realised. There was no point looking at the readings. He knew how this day was going to end already.

He stood up and saw Jack coming out of his office, looking troubled, pulling his great coat on quickly. Owen scooped up Holly and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Come on baby," he said, heading towards Gwen.

If things had to end the way he thought they did, then he was going to make sure that his family knew how much he loved them and he was going to make sure there were no unnecessary losses.

"Gwen," Owen reached her and wrapped an arm round her.

"Hey, what's up?" Gwen asked, frowning slightly.

"Just…" Owen paused. "I just wanted you to know that I love you."

"I love you too," Gwen looked at him oddly. "What's got into you? You've been acting weird all morning."

"I…" Owen faltered again. "I don't know. I just had a nightmare I guess and realised I take you for granted."

Gwen hugged him tightly, careful not to squash Holly.

"I know you love us, silly," she said quietly.

"Right you lot," Jack called out before either could say anything else. "I've just been mailed reports that all three of those UFO's are now visible to everyone and are currently hovering over central Cardiff. I don't know what they're going to do, but they've ignored the polite requests to get out of our atmosphere, so we're going to have to go in."

"What are the exact coordinates?" Tosh asked. Jack chucked a file towards her and she caught it heading off to the SUV to prepare.

"Gwen, you stay here and keep an eye on things alright?" Jack said knowing he was about to be bombarded with protestations.

"Oh no, I'm not staying here," Gwen replied. "Just because I'm pregnant does not mean that you're sticking me behind safety glass. Until I'm so big I can hardly walk, I'm coming with you."

"Gwen," Owen said. "What about Holly? Maybe you should stay? I mean there's no point risking our whole family is there?"

"I am not staying here, Owen," Gwen snapped back. "I'll stay in the SUV if it'll make you feel better, but I'm going."

Owen sighed. Well he'd tried, but in both visions Gwen had been there. He pulled Holly further up his hip.

"Fine," Jack said. "Ianto can stay here. I'm sure he won't mind looking after Holly for you."

"Daddy," Holly said urgently. "I have to be there."

"No," Owen shook his head. "I'm going to change it."

"Daddy, if I'm not there, Mummy's in front of the truck," Holly replied. "I need to be there."

"Listen, stay here baby," Owen whispered. "I'll fix things. I promise."

Holly continued to protest but Owen handed her to Ianto who had just wandered down from Jack's office. As he and the others wandered towards the main entrance intending to head for the SUV he had to try hard to ignore the screams Holly was sending his way through her mind.


	18. Goodbye

Owen was determined not to give anything away. He kept a straight face the whole time they were driving, glancing up at the sky occasionally to see if the UFO's had appeared yet. His heart was thumping in his ears loudly. Part of him wished Holly had shown him the vision a few days ago so he could leave some kind of note for Gwen, but maybe it was better this way. He wouldn't have time to let fear consume him.

Jack and Tosh were talking nineteen to the dozen, but it was washing straight over Owen. All he could hear was Gwen beside him muttering to herself as she looked up something on the computer.

"Shit!" Jack suddenly swerved the SUV and the whole team found themselves flung to the left. "Looks like we're in trouble."

Tosh gasped as Jack turned the SUV around and parked it up, some way back from where he'd had to swerve. Opening the side door, Owen caught sight of the three UFO's, already causing destruction with their blue coloured lasers. This was it then. The place he had to die.

"Tosh start sending the UFO's messages," Jack began barking out orders. "Tell them to get the hell out of our atmosphere and if they continue to rain down fire, Torchwood will have no choice but to retaliate."

Tosh nodded and pulled out her PDA, tapping away at it furiously with her stylus. Owen glanced one last time at Gwen who was watching the space ships in horror, before turning to Jack and awaiting his orders.

"Owen, go and check for casualties," Jack said. "Don't go to close. You're priority is to help those wounded, not those in the firing range, understand? I'm not losing any of the team today."

Owen nodded and gave Gwen a quick kiss as he reached for his med kit.

"Be careful," Gwen whispered.

"I will," Owen promised. He opened his mouth to say goodbye, but deciding he'd probably bottle it, or risk giving the game away, he didn't.

"Gwen, I want you to stay here," Jack said. "As far as Tosh can gather, those space ships are cutting of long distance transmissions so you need to relay anything Ianto sends to you, to us."

Gwen took her eyes of the space ships long enough to look at Jack and nod. She wasn't going to get out of the SUV in a hurry.

"You don't get out unless they start heading this way," Jack continued as if he'd seen her thoughts.

"I won't," Gwen promised, sounding slightly more genuine than Owen did.

"Right, come on then team," Jack said, leading Tosh and Owen towards the chaos zone.

Owen treated a couple of people on the way for minor injuries, but they were mostly just in shock. Shocked, scared and grieving for lost or dead loved ones. Owen couldn't bear to watch them cry. Normally he'd have tried to offer some words of comfort, but knowing that in a few short hours, Gwen would no doubt look like that stopped him from being able to respond properly.

Neither Tosh nor Jack seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't comment. They too were staring at the increasing carnage as they got nearer to central Cardiff and the attacking aliens.

Back at the Hub, Ianto was trying to ignore the sick feeling still threatening to overwhelm him and keep Holly amused. The six year old was having none of it though.

She kept heading for the door, trying o escape and every time Ianto bought her back to try and distract her with something, she would tell him that she needed to get to her Dad.

"You can't go with Daddy," Ianto said gently. "He has to help the hurt people get away from the aliens."

Ianto had learned a long time ago that there was no point in keeping things from a psychic child. No matter how hard you tried they would always be able to locate the betraying thoughts that told them exactly what was going on.

"But if I don't go Mummy will die!" Holly protested sounding more and more distressed.

"How do you know that Holly?" Ianto asked frowning.

"Because Uncle Jack told Mummy to stay in the SUV but she's going to feel a twinge and start to panic and go looking for Daddy and get hit by a truck trying to avoid the alien lasers!" Holly cried. "The baby doesn't mean to, but he's going to kill Mummy!"

Ianto didn't know what to say. He knew Holly would never lie, but he couldn't take a six year old out into that kind of chaos. He pondered for a moment trying to think how best to explain it.

"Holly, I know you see things in your head," he began. "But they don't always happen. Time isn't linear."

"But it will!" Holly persisted. "If me and Daddy aren't in front of the truck instead, Mummy will be there!"

Ianto scooped Holly up and took her up into Jack's office, intending to take her to the back room, maybe pursued her to have a nap, anything to stop her worrying.

"Even if that's true, Mummy wouldn't want you to be killed by the truck now would she?" Ianto said.

Holly sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to reason with Ianto. He just wouldn't understand. So she decided to change the conversation entirely and put plan B into action.

"You're pregnant aren't you?" She said as Ianto tucked her into what was normally his and Jack's bed. Ianto half smiled half frowned, not expecting Holly to have known something like that. She didn't normally invade their minds unless they kept something from her.

"Yeah," he said.

"Your baby's shy, but… loves you loads," Holly yawned. Ianto couldn't help but grin at that.

"Try and get some sleep," he said, watching her drift off.

Gwen waited in the SUV fidgeting. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was really wrong. She kept glancing down the road, wishing that Owen and the others would hurry up.

She was about to try and contact them when a sudden bolt of pain shot across her stomach. She clutched it praying nothing was wrong. Not now, she couldn't have something happen now whilst she was alone.

She felt it again only worse this time. That was it, there was nothing for it. She climbed out of the SUV and, clutching her ever growing baby bump, headed the way Jack and the others had gone.

Ianto sat bolt upright. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, really he hadn't, but since Holly had already settled down he thought he might as well get five minutes peace. He hadn't even bent hat tired so how he'd managed it was beyond him.

When he looked up expecting to see Holly still tucked up however, there was nothing but an empty bed. Ianto paled. No. He couldn't lose Holly; he'd never forgive himself if something happened. He'd never be confidant in his own parenting abilities if Holly did as she'd wanted and stood in front of that truck instead.

He ran back up to the main part of the Hub, hunting high and low. No sign. He ran over to the kitchen and found his comm. He fitted it into his ear and tried to contact the others. If they could find her, then they could stop her before it was too late. Of course with long distance transmissions being blocked, and Gwen having left her comm. in the SUV, Ianto found that he couldn't get hold of anyone.

Owen knew they were getting nearer 'the place'. He thought he would start to get more and more scared as they approached but he felt calm. Like he was seeing the world through someone else's eyes. The strange feeling of déjà vu didn't help either.

He watched the UFO's over head and realised that he was mere minutes away from his death. He turned to Jack and Tosh but they were both busy, discussing what to do, so neither of them saw Owen step from their shelter out into the road.

Owen almost didn't manage to make his feet move forward. He was frozen to the spot. A little way up the road, staring back at him as the carnage unfolded around them was Holly.

"No," Owen muttered to himself. "No, no, no, no, no, no."

He ran towards his baby, scooping her up in his arms. He didn't hear Gwen seemingly appear from nowhere, screaming at him to move, having to be held back by Tosh and Jack as they too spotted the truck. He didn't see the truck until it was almost too late, but just in time, he managed to turn and mouth 'I love you' at Gwen before the lorry hit him.


	19. Aftermath

The whole team were in a daze. Somehow they managed to get the alien space ships attacking Cardiff to leave and they all piled into the SUV. They finally picked up the calls from a distressed Ianto and Jack had to explain what had happened, watching Gwen carefully in the rear view mirror.

It was like they didn't know how to cope. Owen could be a right twat sometimes but he was one of them and a friend to all. As for Holly, well Jack wasn't sure how well Gwen was going to be when it finally sunk in that she'd lost her husband and her daughter.

Once they were back at the Hub, Jack instructed Tosh to look after Gwen, whilst he went back to find what little would be left of Owen and Holly. Ianto stopped him before he could leave and asked to go with him. He felt terrible and responsible for their deaths. After all, if Holly had not managed to get out then she wouldn't have been in front of the truck and if she hadn't been in front of the truck Owen wouldn't have died either.

Jack was reluctant to let him go, but when Ianto persisted he let the Welshman join him, taking his hand reassuringly as they left.

Tosh guided Gwen towards Jack's office and got her a glass of water. Tosh wasn't really in the best state to do any comforting. She'd just watched what had once been her childhood sweetheart and was still her best friend die cradling his child in his arms.

Neither of them seemed able to cry. It was like the pain was so intense they could do nothing but focus on it. The Hub seemed strangely quiet without Holly and devoid of… well… Owen-ness.

Jack and Ianto returned towards the evening. Tosh and Gwen hadn't moved, hadn't eaten, hadn't drunk since they'd come back to the Hub that morning. The glass of water remained untouched. In fact the only time either of them had moved was when they went to go and do something or fetch something for Holly and realised that she wasn't there to care for.

They sat in silence together for a long time. Tosh and Gwen side by side on Jack's office sofa, staring blankly through the Torchwood emblazoned glass, Ianto sat on Jack's knee, the other man's arm wrapped round his waist.

"We couldn't find them," Jack said finally. Gwen looked up at him. "We searched high ad low, found plenty of… but not Owen or Holly."

"Then we'll search again," Gwen said, looking back through the glass.

"Gwen,"

"No Jack!" Gwen shouted standing up suddenly. "We are going to find them and bury them together. I don't care how long it takes."

"Gwen, we couldn't find them, the police will be there now, any bodies left will have gone back with them," Jack said quietly.

"I DON'T CARE!" Gwen screamed, busting into tears. "They were my family! And you-"

Gwen turned on Ianto.

"You're the reason they're dead!" She hissed. "I hope you're happy."

Ianto stood up and backed away slightly, looking at his feet. He knew it was his fault, but nothing Gwen might say could make him feel any worse.

"Gwen, that's enough," Jack growled, standing up, hands on his desk. Blaming herself was one thing, but throwing accusations elsewhere he would not stand for no matter how upset she was.

"It's true Jack!" Gwen snapped. "You're incompetent boyfriend couldn't even look after a six ear old!"

Jack moved round his desk and began herding Gwen towards the door. Gwen didn't protest, but her movements were shaky due to the sobs racking through her.

"Go home Gwen, now is not the time to talk about this," Jack warned her. "Wait for it to sink in and we'll discuss what to do tomorrow."

Gwen muttered something that sounded like sorry as she walked carefully down the stairs. Turning back into his office he saw that Tosh looked like she was in need of a friend.

"Tosh, go with her," Jack said gently.

Tosh looked up and nodded, standing and wandering after Gwen. Jack knew that it would be safe to send them home together. They weren't going to make the same mistake they did the last time they'd both been depressed.

Jack then turned back to Ianto who was leaning against the back wall staring at his feet again, looking like he was trying hard not to cry. He wandered towards the Welshman slowly hoping that he could help him feel better.

"Gwen didn't mean what she said," Jack murmured quietly.

"But I did though," Ianto looked up bleary eyed. "I killed them."

Jack looked at him sadly, watching as the first tears started to fall. He'd had to put up with so much heartache in his long life, but it never seemed to get any easier. They stared at each other for a moment before Jack opened his arms and pulled Ianto into a hug.

"You didn't kill them," he said.

"I was supposed to watch Holly and I fell asleep!" Ianto sobbed. "What kind of parent am I ever going to be?"

"Ianto, you are going to be a fantastic parent," Jack replied. "As much as you might hate yourself and blame yourself, you are not the reason they died."

"But Holly told me what was going to happen," Ianto cried pulling back enough to look Jack in the eye.

"Holly tells people a lot of things," Jack rested his forehead against Ianto's. "You weren't to know that she would try and escape."

Ianto didn't look convinced, but didn't argue either, which Jack took to be a good sign. He kissed the other man softly and then took his hand.

"Come on," he said. "I doubt we'll get much sleep and the others will be in early, so we might as well have a few extra hours lying, staring at the ceiling."


	20. Pain

Neither Tosh nor Gwen slept. The minute they got back to her flat Gwen collapsed onto the sofa and didn't move or talk again until morning. Tosh didn't know what to do with herself. Everywhere she turned there were reminders of Owen and Holly. She wanted to cry, but how could she when Gwen wasn't? She had no right to be that upset when Gwen appeared to be coping with the news.

Of course the truth was Gwen wasn't coping. She was just refusing to believe it was true. After all, if there wasn't a body to find, then how could they be dead? Until she saw solid proof she simply wouldn't believe it.

Tosh bought her a glass of water in the early hours of the morning, trying to seem like she was helping. She didn't want to intrude, but at the same time, she wanted to let Gwen know she was there for her.

Gwen could feel the baby moving around and was momentarily surprised. She'd forgotten about it. Somehow she couldn't bear to think about the fact that she'd have to make arrangements alone. She didn't want to have to deal with anything until she found Holly and Owen. But even as she thought that she knew that what she really meant was she didn't want to deal with anything until after the funeral.

She sighed and laid a hand over the spot the baby was kicking. Would this baby be a Rift Child as well? Part of Gwen wanted it to be. But the other half felt that she would be trying to replace Holly if that happened.

"I think we should go back to the Hub," she said suddenly sitting up.

It was about five in the morning and Tosh looked like she was about to collapse. She nodded though and the pair of them headed for the front door. As they stepped out into the cold morning air, they both felt some kind of relief. Just being out in the open, shivering, made them feel better.

Jack and Ianto lay awake, full clothes still, staring at each other mutely. Maybe if they stared long enough they'd be able to hear each other's thoughts. Course neither of them fancied much listening to the other blaming himself.

In the end Ianto turned over, sighing slightly, trying not to let it turn into a sob again. Jack wrapped an arm round the other mans waist, moulding against his back.

"You ok?" He whispered gently.

"Mm," Ianto didn't trust himself to speak.

"Try not to blame yourself, yeah?" Jack kissed Ianto's neck.

"Fat chance," Ianto muttered.

"Ianto, Holly wanted to get away from you," Jack said quietly. "She would've found a way no matter what you did to keep her here."

"But at least if I'd made an effort I wouldn't feel so bad," Ianto cried. "I fell asleep Jack! Even if she hadn't been trying to escape she could've got up and hurt herself another way!"

"Ianto," Jack sighed wondering how to make the other man see it wasn't his fault. "When I went to war I was told to keep all my men in a certain place. But one of them got big headed and thought he could take out some of the enemy. I attempted to keep him at his station, but no matter what I said he wouldn't stay. He escaped one night and was shot down before he could get anywhere near the enemy. Now, is it my fault that guy's dead and his family no longer have a husband and dad?"

Ianto made a small frustrated noise. The same noise he made when he knew Jack had won an argument.

"That's not the same Jack," he muttered.

"How is not the same?" Jack asked.

"You didn't murder a child," Ianto said finally.

Jack turned Ianto over then so they were facing each other again.

"You did not murder Holly," he said firmly. "And whilst you keep blaming yourself you will never be able to move on."

He reached a hand down to Ianto's stomach.

"You can't build a future until you let go of the past," he smiled softly.

"I hate it when you're right," Ianto moaned.

Gwen paused not far from the Hub, turning to take a different route. She didn't want to have to walk through central Cardiff to get there. Tosh followed silently not even noticing the detour.

Jack was waiting for them as they entered the Hub, standing, hands stuffed in pockets, by the base of the water tower. They made their way over to him and paused in front of him, looking up expectantly.

"Ianto's not feeling very well today," he said shooting Gwen a pointed look.

Gwen stared straight back at him. In her mind Ianto was still partly to blame for Holly's death and therefore Owen's as well.

"So it's just us three," Jack continued. "And I think we have things to discuss. My office. Now."

They trudged up to Jack's office, looking and feeling like naughty school children. As soon as they were in his office he began talking again.

"I've been in touch with the police and they didn't recover Owen and Holly's bodies either," he sat in the chair behind his desk, leaning his elbows on his desk.

"We've got to find them Jack," Gwen began.

"No, Gwen we haven't," he replied.

"Jack!"

"Gwen," Jack held up his hands. "We are not going to find them. I don't know what happened, but we're not going to find them."

Gwen finally gave in and burst into tears. Tosh couldn't bear to look at her, staring out the window, forehead pressed again the cool glass as tears slowly trickled down her face as well.

"I'm sorry, but we've got to face facts," Jack said. "We'll need to organise a funeral and you Gwen need to apologise to Ianto. Not now, but sometime."

Gwen wasn't listening though. A sudden jolt of pain had shot across her stomach and she gasped. No. The baby was coming. But she couldn't have it now. It was too early. She was not losing another member of her family.


	21. Son

Gwen sobbed and Jack frowned at her. He understood she was upset but he could do without another tearful episode now. He rolled his eyes and sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Look I know you're upset, but-"

"Jack!" Gwen screwed up her face in pain. "I'm having contractions!"

Jack paled and was by her side in an instant. He took her hand in his and ran his free hand through his hair.

"It's probably just a false labour due to the stress, don't panic ok?" Jack said carefully. "We're going to get you to the SUV and take you to the hospital."

Gwen nodded and as Jack stood up, Tosh took over the hand holding. Jack climbed quickly down the ladder to the back room and found Ianto pacing about looking worried.

"Gwen's gone into labour," he said quickly. Ianto stopped and looked up.

"But she can't…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I can't be responsible for a third death Jack."

"You're not responsible for the first two and this baby isn't going to die, ok?" Jack promised giving Ianto a quick kiss. "We'll be back in a bit, promise. See you later."

Ianto nodded looking worse than Gwen. Jack was really starting to worry about the team now. They'd faced many alien threats together, but this looked set to tear them apart.

Jack went back upstairs and ran ahead of Gwen and Tosh to prepare the SUV. The contractions were getting worse and by the time Tosh had managed to get her safely into the SUV Gwen said they were mere minutes apart.

They rushed to the hospital and Gwen was taken straight in. Jack and Tosh were made to wait in the reception area, something which frustrated the Captain. He was not used to being kept out of something.

Tosh too was reluctant to remain outside. She wanted to be there with Gwen. After all they were close friends and Gwen would be scared. Hell Tosh was scared stood out here. Who knew what Gwen was going through?

Gwen was panicking. The Doctors didn't seem to be able to stop the labour and thought that the best thing for both mother and child was to allow it to continue. Gwen protested, but in her weak state there was little she could do.

Despite the closeness of the contractions, it was still over an hour before she was taken to the delivery room. On the way she could've sworn she glimpsed Owen and Holly out of the corner of her eye.

When she turned her head and realised it was a different father and daughter she felt even worse. She prayed that their son survived. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost another family member.

Jack and Tosh paced about in the waiting room. Jack had made a call to Ianto saying that they might be a while and then returned with some coffee. Neither had drunk it though, it tasted horrible compared to the usual heavenly brew they got from the Welshman.

It felt like years before a nurse finally came out to tell them Gwen had had a little boy and would they like to go and see her. They wandered into the room where Gwen was supposed to be resting, but from the look on her face, she wanted to be able to crawl home and not go out for days.

"Hey," Tosh said gently sitting one side of the bed whilst Jack sat the other. "How are you?"

"Great," Gwen said bitterly. "Physically."

"It'll be alright Gwen," Jack said gently.

"Really? So you know what it's like to lose your entire family in one go?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do actually," Jack didn't meet her gaze. "But look at the positive side. You've got a new baby boy."

"Yeah a new baby boy struggling to hold onto life whilst I have to think about planning a funeral for my husband and daughter and I can't even bury them properly," Gwen's voice cracked and tears began to roll down her cheeks again.

"Look, we'll help you ok?" Tosh squeezed her hand gently. "You don't have to do this alone."

"Course not," Jack agreed.

Tosh told Jack that she was going to stay with Gwen and gave him the chance to escape back to Ianto, make sure he was ok. The Hub was quite when he got back but there was the faint smell of freshly brewed coffee in the air.

It got stronger as Jack got closer to the backroom and when he made it down the ladder he found Ianto waiting with a tray of coffee and food. Jack smiled.

"What's all this?" He asked.

"I haven't eaten all day," Ianto shrugged. "And I don't really feel like anything. But I thought you could do with some. I'll eat something eventually for the baby's sake if not mine."

Jack walked over and enveloped Ianto in a hug. Ianto was slightly taken aback, but didn't pull away, wrapping his arms round Jack instead.

"You are a wonderful person, you know that?" Jack said after a moment.

"No I'm not," Ianto shook his head sadly. "But I might as well try and make up for things."

Jack felt his heart break as he watched Ianto wandering round like a lost soul.

"Gwen had a baby boy," he said finally as Ianto sat down on the bed.

"Oh… good," Ianto tried to smile but didn't quite manage it.

"I love you," Jack continued sitting beside Ianto and wrapping an arm round his waist. "Remember that."

"I do," Ianto said softly. "And I love you too."


	22. Freddie Cooper

Months passed. When she was first allowed to take him home, Gwen refused to give her new baby boy a name. After all, why should she name her son without his father's input? But Jack reasoned with her that Owen wasn't coming back so in the end she began thinking about it.

Every name she tried just didn't seem right though. The other members of Torchwood all tried to help, but still she could not find the right name. Ianto left the backroom less and less as the months went on and Jack began to worry even more.

Tosh was caught in the middle but seemed to be handling the situation a lot better than her Captain. She would regularly run out for coffee from the Starbucks down the road. In fact, Torchwood hadn't dealt with aliens in some time; it had turned into a place they would just hang out together.

In fact, Tosh was acting more like she was in charge than anyone else. She even began to gently suggest to Gwen that perhaps she ought to have a funeral.

"Otherwise you'll never be able to let go," Tosh squeezed Gwen's hand gently.

"I don't want to let go," Gwen replied wearily. She'd given up crying not long after her baby was born. There didn't seem to be any point. There was still a part of her that held onto the tiny bit of hope that told her Owen and Holly were still alive.

"I know, but you've got to think about the baby," Tosh said gently.

"Freddie," Gwen smiled slightly.

"You've thought of a name?" Tosh asked surprised.

"I didn't," Gwen looked at Tosh. "Owen did."

"What do you mean?" Tosh frowned.

"I was in the shower this morning and I…" Gwen paused. "I was talking to myself and all I said was 'I wish you were here Owen. I got to name Holly so it's only fair you should name our son' and when I got out of the shower, Freddie was written on the mirror."

Tosh's frown deepened.

"Are you sure you didn't write it?" She said quietly.

"Why would I write Freddie?" Gwen shrugged. "Just felt like something Owen would do."

"Owen's dead," Tosh said firmly. "You and I both know that there's nothing after death. He can't come back."

Gwen nodded, looking down at her feet, eyes pricking with tears.

"Tosh is right though," Jack interrupted, returning from the back room to his office and deciding to keep the conversation going before Gwen had time to think and feel bad. "We ought to think about a funeral… well I say we… that's if we're invited?"

"Course you are!" Gwen said.

"Even Ianto?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

Since Gwen had shouted the odds blaming Ianto for the death of Owen and Holy the two hadn't spoken to each other. Well, Ianto hadn't spoken much to anyone. Gwen had yet to apologise and Jack had the feeling that until she truly forgave Ianto, the Welshman would never forgive himself.

"Yeah, course," Gwen replied, not quite meeting Jack's gaze.

Jack sighed slightly. She obviously wasn't planning on talking to him any time soon either. The longer she left it, the harder it was going to be to start up a conversation.

He knew that Gwen was having a hard time and he knew he shouldn't be biased, but Ianto was suffering so much from the stress he just couldn't let this continue much longer.

"Why don't you go and ask him about it," Jack suggested.

"I… well… I haven't sorted anything out yet…" Gwen wandered across the office floor to check on baby Freddie who was asleep in his carry chair.

"Gwen, go and talk to him," Jack begged. "Please."

Gwen could hear the sorrow and desperation in Jack's voice and knew that she had to do as he asked. She walked back passed him and climbed down into the back room. Ianto was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling and didn't seem o even notice her approaching.

"Ianto?" She whispered.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"I…" Gwen paused. She had honestly forgiven him, but somehow it was so hard to tell him that. Almost as difficult as admitting her husband and daughter were dead. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to blame you. It wasn't your fault."

Ianto glanced at her.

"Nice try Gwen," He sighed turning over and facing away from her.

"It wasn't, Ianto!" Gwen moaned. "Please, don't blame yourself. Look what happened to me. I had my baby four months early!"

Ianto chuckled sadly.

"That's not very likely to happen to me is it?" He said raising an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"No… I suppose not…" she smiled. "Forgive me for blaming you?"

"Course," Ianto nodded. That didn't mean he had to forgive himself for what he'd done though.

"Jack thinks I ought to start planning the funeral," Gwen sighed, looking down at her feet.

"And what do you think?" Ianto asked, turning back to her properly.

"That I probably should," she agreed.

Ianto sat up, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Well…" he paused. "I could always give you a hand with arrangements and everything."

"Thanks," Gwen said.

"I haven't made coffee in a while have I?" Ianto noted.

"I thought that was 'cause the smell made you sick?" Gwen frowned slightly.

"Yeah… it did," Ianto smiled wryly. "But I think I'm ok now. Fancy a special brew?"

"Yes please," Gwen replied.

Jack was surprised to see Ianto out of the back room. But silently pleased to notice the slightly happier air about him. Gwen followed a few moments later just as Ianto had headed down to the kitchen.

"Where's he off to?" Tosh asked.

"To make us some coffee," Gwen smiled slightly. "Fancy helping me make a start on this funeral then Tosh?"

Jack wasn't listening to Tosh as she replied. He didn't notice the two women using his computer to begin the process of a funeral without bodies. He was too busy watching Ianto.

As soon as the other man had disappeared into the kitchen Jack wandered out of his office and down the stairs, following.

Ianto looked up as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and smiled when he caught sight of Jack.

"Just can't stay away can you?" He chuckled.

"Well you are irresistible," Jack agreed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked over to where Ianto stood.

"Pfft, yeah right," Ianto scoffed.

"You are!" Jack assured him. "You are the single most gorgeous Welshman I've ever laid eyes on."

"You're just saying that 'cause I'm making coffee again!" Ianto pouted in mock hurt.

"Ah! You've sent through my plan!" Jack grinned as Ianto laughed. "You've spoken to Gwen then?"

"Yeah," Ianto nodded.

"So you've finally realised it's not your fault?" Jack watched Ianto carefully for his answer.

"I've spoken to Gwen," Ianto said firmly. "Everything else will come in time."

Jack nodded.

"I love you," he said quietly.

"Just because I'm walking about again does not mean I'm going to be in the mood for sex," Ianto grinned.

"I'm offended you think that's the only reason I'm with you," Jack moaned, wrapping his arms round Ianto's waist.

"Oh that's not the only reason," Ianto reassured him. "You like the coffee as well."

"If you weren't pregnant, I'd have to say you were heading for a smack," Jack warned.

"I love you too," Ianto pressed a kiss to his lips before Jack could complain anymore.


	23. Letting Go

Planning the funeral was both good and bad. It gave Gwen something to do to keep her mind of things, but it also meant that when the time came she would have to accept that Owen and Holly weren't coming back. She'd have to move on.

But as time went on she found the thought easier and easier to come to terms with. The others all helped with the arrangements and the distance between them seemed to close. Gwen even asked Tosh to be Freddie's godmother.

The funeral was going to be a small one. Owen's parents were dead and he didn't have any siblings or other relatives, so there was nothing to sort out there. Gwen's Mum was too ill to come to the funeral, too ill even to realise that Gwen had been married. But Gwen had informed her sister who lived in Spain with her husband and kids. Gwen and Owen had visited once not long after Holly was born, but with work and everything else they hadn't met up again.

So in the end it turned out that only the Torchwood team would be present. This was enough for Gwen though, they were practically family anyway.

Finally everything was ready and when Freddie was four months old, they only had the countdown to go. It was the Friday before when Gwen began to sort through all their old photos. She wanted to find a nice one of Owen and Holly together to go with…

She wanted to say 'to go with the coffins' but they weren't really coffins if they didn't contain bodies, were they? Gwen sighed and opened another box, looking through the photos. Eventually she settled on her favourite and then began on picking one of Freddie. She felt that they ought to see what the fourth member of the family looked like. Gwen knew that there was nothing but darkness after death, but she liked to think that Owen and Holly had beaten that somehow and that they were watching as she worked. After all, someone must've written Freddie on the mirror.

She found one of when he was first born. He looked so small and vulnerable. Her heart ached when she thought about the birth. If only Owen could've been there. She turned over the photo and pulled out a pen writing something on the back before getting up to fetch Freddie. Looking through the photos had made her yearn to be with the rest of the team and she decided to head into the Hub.

"Hello, I wasn't expecting you in today," Jack said as he saw Gwen heading towards her workstation with Freddie.

"I just… needed to be with friends," Gwen shrugged.

Jack noticed the tell tale signs that let him know Gwen didn't want to talk about how things were; she just wanted to know that there were other people around. That she wasn't alone.

"Fancy a cup of coffee?" He asked. "I was just going to see if Ianto's making another batch."

"Yeah, thanks," Gwen nodded.

Jack lingered, watching her for a moment longer, before continuing to the kitchen were Ianto was doing the washing up.

"You are supposed to be resting," Jack smiled as he wandered over to his partner.

"Well if you lot insist on making a mess!" Ianto grinned back. He was now five months pregnant and starting to get a bump which Jack found incredibly sexy. Though as Ianto pointed out many times Jack found a lot of things incredibly sexy.

"I can do that," Jack said, genuine concern laced into his voice. "The only thing I can't do is make coffee."

"I know," Ianto tried desperately to keep a straight face.

"You said that with a little too much conviction," Jack rolled his eyes. "My coffee doesn't taste that bad!"

"No, of course not," Ianto couldn't help laughing. "If you like the taste of Weevil's socks!"

Jack stared in mock open mouthed horror.

"How dare you!" He declared pointing a finger at Ianto. "Just because we're not all masters of coffee like you!"

Ianto managed to control his hysterics long enough to see the slight look of hurt that passed over Jack's face.

"Ok, ok," he amended. "It's not that bad. Mine's just better."

"You're full of yourself!" Jack wrapped his arms round Ianto's waist, resting his hand son the other man's stomach.

"I was thinking," Ianto said suddenly sounding anxious and serious all at once.

"Mm?"

"We ought to… we ought to have a place of our own," Jack could tell from the tone of his voice that Ianto had gone red.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "That'd be nice."

Tosh approached Gwen and pulled up a chair next to her.

"Hello little man!" She said, cooing over Freddie who gurgled up at her. She reached down and picked up him up. "You're getting big now!"

Gwen smiled slightly suddenly realise how good with kids Tosh was.

"He's a right handful," Gwen agreed. "Keeps me up half the night!"

"Ooh, do you keep your Mummy up?" Tosh asked tickling Freddie's tummy. "I could always come over and help out."

"Nah you're alright," Gwen said. "I can't sleep most of the time anyway. It's quite nice to have someone to stay up with."

Tosh smiled slightly and glanced up as Jack and Ianto appeared from the kitchen, Ianto holding a tray of coffee mugs.

"They've been inseparable recently," Tosh noted.

"I'm not surprised," Gwen replied. "They're totally besotted."

Ianto deposited their mugs on Gwen's desk and then turned and handed Jack his, putting the tray back in the kitchen before following his partner up to his office.

"I'm happy for them," Gwen said after a while. "It's nice to know that their family's still together.


	24. Familiar Faces

The Hub was quiet. Gwen had managed to get Freddie off to sleep and after a take away lunch the team had taken to monitoring their computer on the off chance that there was another alien invasion. Apart from a few Weevils earlier that week nothing much had happened.

After watching Jack and Ianto together that morning Gwen had ached more for her family and was still dreading the day when their Captain had to replace Owen. It would be hard finding another doctor as good as him, but it had to be done sometime.

Even to this day, Gwen never knew what made her look up from the computer screen she was gazing at. It might just have been that she needed to move her neck that way, that it was an automatic reaction performed by her body. Whatever it was, she didn't spend much time thinking about it.

As she looked up, her eyes fell on two very familiar people who she hadn't seen in some months.

"Owen?"

The reaction was instantaneous. Tosh looked up too, probably checking to see if Gwen was alright but she too caught sight of Owen stood in the middle of the Hub still holding Holly as he had done all those months ago.

Gwen was already on her feet, practically throwing herself at Owen, tears streaming down her face.

"Hello," Owen croaked finally. "God my back hurts…"

Gwen pulled back from his slightly looking furious.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" She asked, as Tosh took over the hugging.

"I…" Owen shook his head as though trying to dislodge water. "I'm not sure…"

Jack's office door open and the captain leant out, spotted Owen and came running down the stairs, followed shortly by Ianto who came a little slower.

"What happened?" Jack asked, catching the tail end of Owen's sentence. "Start from the beginning."

_Owen could see the truck coming towards him. He had just enough time to turn and mouth 'I love you' at Gwen before it hit. _

_Jack had told the team many times what death was like. Completely black, nothing but the strange creature you never saw moving through the darkness. But this was different. Everything went white, not black and Owen could still see Holly in his arms._

_Owen opened his mouth to say something but before he could the bathroom in his flat materialised round him. He could hear Gwen in the shower. He made to go and let her know he was here, that he and Holly were ok, but Holly stopped him._

_"Not yet," she whispered._

_"Oh Owen…" Owen was startled as he heard Gwen talking to herself. "I wish you were here. I got to name our daughter so you should name our son…"_

_Owen smiled slightly. They had a son! He glanced through the bathroom to the living room where a tiny baby was asleep in his carry chair. His grin widened. He thought quickly. Gwen had said she wanted him to name their son, so how could he leave her a message?_

_Holly tugged at his shirt and pointed to the steamed up mirror. Owen nodded and quickly wrote Freddie in the steam. Before he could anything else, the bathroom dissolved and they were once more stood in the white they had been before._

_This time when they reappeared Owen recognised where he was from his visions. He wandered towards the coffee table, strewn with photographs. There was one of Freddie right in the middle. Owen turned it over._

_If only your Daddy and Sister could see you…_

_"We need to go to the Hub…" Holly said holding the photo of her new baby brother._

_Owen nodded and he set off, Holly on his hip, determined to make up for the months he knew he'd missed._

They were all holding mugs of coffee by the time Owen finished his story. The whole team had been listening intently, but Owen had never once taken his eyes off Gwen. He could see how much she'd hurt over the last few months in her eyes. Even if it wasn't his fault, even if she was glad he was alive, it would be a while before they were ok again.

"So… have I missed much?" Owen asked as Holly slid off his lap to go and see her mother.

"You've got a son," Gwen said, Freddie sat on her lap.

"That much I knew," Owen replied.

"Ianto's having a baby," Tosh piped up, making Ianto blush.

"Yeah, that was fairly obvious," Owen laughed. The baby bump was hard to miss. Ianto was not someone who got a beer belly. "Do you know what happened to me?"

He directed this question at Jack who he'd only just noticed was stood with Ianto.

"As far as I can tell…" Jack paused. "Temporal shift."

"What?" The rest of the team looked at him quizzically.

"Holly," he continued as if this explained everything. "She's a Rift Child so she probably has a certain amount of control over the Rift itself. That white space you described was probably the bit in between jumps in time."

Owen nodded. It made sense. After all Holly had seemed to know what had been going on.

Slowly the team filed away and left Gwen and Owen alone together with their kids. Holly was playing happily with Freddie as though she'd been there from the moment he was born.

"I'm sorry," Owen said finally, pulling Gwen into another hug. "I wouldn't have done it if there was any other way."

"I know," Gwen nodded, wrapping her arm round Owen's waist, leaning her head on his shoulder and watching Holly and Freddie.

"He's gorgeous," Owen smiled down at their son.

"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "He's perfect."


	25. Through Glass

It took them a while, but slowly things got back to normal. Gwen, Owen, Holly and Freddie became a proper family and things in the Hub settled down again. Tosh was involved so much with the kids that sometimes it was hard to tell if she lived on her own anymore. It made things easier for Gwen and Owen when it came to making up.

As the months wore on, Ianto got more and more frustrated. He'd given up leaving the back room and he'd had to give up leaving the Hub long before that. Occasionally one of the team would go and visit him but he knew it wasn't fair to demand their attention completely.

Jack stayed with him most of the time, only emerging to fetch food or water for his stranded loved one.

"Not much longer," he promised Ianto one day.

"Another week," Ianto smiled slightly. "I think I can cope with that."

"I'll carry the next one shall I?" Jack asked sitting on the bed next to his partner.

"Oh we're having more are we?" Ianto grinned. "Bit presumptuous isn't it?"

Jack turned slightly pinked, but ploughed on unperturbed.

"Well our house is huge," he said. "So it needs to be filled with something. Besides, Junior will need a playmate."

"Or three," Ianto agreed.

"Do you want me to ask Owen about the birth?" Jack said finally.

"I'm not letting you come anywhere near me wit a scalpel!" Ianto yelped. "Yes, you can ask Owen. In fact tell him that I don't trust anyone else to do it."

Jack smiled slightly.

"I don't think we need to inflate his ego anymore," he replied.

"He's not that bad," Ianto said. "Not since…"

"I know," Jack squeezed Ianto's hand lightly.

A few days later Gwen woke in her own bed and smiled to herself. Next to her was her husband, at the end of the bed in his cot was their son and their daughter was in the room next door. Everything was as it should be.

She turned over and reached out to Owen… only to find him gone. Panicking she sat up. Freddie was gone as well. No. This couldn't be happening. She scrabbled off the bed and went out into the living room. Owen must've just got up and taken Freddie out when he started sniffling. But they weren't out there either. Now she was really starting to worry. Her eyes fell on the fridge and the large note that someone had left there that said 'DON'T PANIC'. Gwen wandered over and pulled it off, opening it.

_I've gone to the Hub early and taken the kids with me. Don't panic, we are all safe and sound. I just didn't want to wake you. See you when you get there._

_Owen xxx_

Sighing with relief, Gwen decided to get herself some breakfast before she headed off to the Hub. When she finally got there, Tosh was sat with Freddie on her lap, helping him play with Holly.

"Where's Owen?" She asked, sitting down next to Tosh.

"Down in the med bay," Tosh said. "He's been down there a while with Jack."

"What's he doing?" Gwen frowned slightly.

"Not sure," Tosh said, but smiled to show she had a pretty good idea.

"Ah!" Gwen realised what the smile meant.

A few hours later a grinning Jack came pelting up the stairs and almost tripped over Holly, stopping just before he reached her.

"It's a boy," He said, beaming.

Gwen and Tosh couldn't help grinning back. The joy was infectious. Picking up Freddie and Holly they followed Jack back down to the med bay, where Ianto lay in one of the beds, holding a tiny baby boy.

"Oh he's perfect!" Gwen said as she reached her husband, who took Freddie from her.

"What's his name?" Tosh asked.

"Harry," Jack replied.

"Not going for something Welsh?"

"Well we thought about it," Ianto said. "But we'd thought about a lot of names and Harry just seemed to fit."

Gwen wrapped an arm round Owen's waist, leaning her head on his shoulder. Freddie giggled as Owen pulled faces at him.

"They're moving into their house tomorrow," Owen said finally as they watched Ianto and Jack together.

"We'll have to visit them," Gwen grinned. "Give them tips on how not to kill each other when a certain someone is up half the night."

She directed this last bit to Freddie who just giggled. It wouldn't be the last giggle to reverberate round the Hub either.

Ianto stood looking out of the window of his Jack's bedroom, yawning as he rocked Harry gently.

"Do you want me to take him?" Jack asked coming back with two mugs of coffee.

"Yeah," Ianto passed their son over.

"Only three more years," Jack grinned as Ianto yawned again.

"Mm, and then we can have another!" Ianto joked.

"Aw, he's not that bad," Jack wandered over to the window, glancing out.

"No he's not," Ianto stood next to him, smiling slightly.

They stood there for a long time, watching Cardiff city, watching the night life as students went from pub and club and those working late made their way home. They watched the world go by, through the glass.


End file.
